Barbie Goes on Netflix’s The Circle
After Dustin Brookshire
Who says the Barbie DreamhouseTM
can’t be a postmodern, one-bedroom
apartment somewhere in the UK?
Who says Barbie can’t
stave off the boredom without
the whims of a child’s hands?
Who says Barbie can’t play
one-woman JengaTM while waiting
for her TV to talk back to her?
Who says Barbie can’t compose
a diss track about another contestant
with a molded mouth?
Who says Barbie can’t be an influencer
without a brand manager to curate her Insta
and suggest the best times to tweet?
Who says Barbie can’t be a catfish?
She can be anyone and anything,
so why not not be Barbie for once?
She made room in her luggage
for catfish whiskers, a perfect accessory
for Catfish BarbieTM.
Barbie, try as she might, will never be able to
play as herself because the others will think
that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman
who calls herself “Barbie” is obviously
someone taking the piss out of the game.
She’ll inevitably get blocked, unable
to cry in her exit video, cause
no one in that apartment complex
ever expected BarbieTM to be genuine.
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter Poetry (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has appeared in The Broadkill Review, Sage Cigarettes, Barrelhouse, Fifth Wheel Press, Cutbow Quarterly, and more. Visit carriganak.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @carriganak for more info.
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