Contemporary poet Marge Piercy published a twenty-five line, open-form narrative poem titled “Barbie Doll.” Four stanzas provide the reader with a brief tale of a nameless “girlchild” whose life, markedly influenced by others’ opinions, comes to a sad and premature end.

     “This girlchild was born as usual,” the poem begins. The little girl receives ostensibly appropriate gifts: dolls, miniature home appliances, some makeup. Later, “in the magic of puberty,” a schoolmate comments unflatteringly on her appearance, noting her “great big nose and fat legs.”

      From the second stanza the reader learns about the young adolescent’s intelligence, physical prowess, and sexual drive. She appears to be healthy, strong, and capable, but she ignores these attributes, instead going “to and fro apologizing.” “Everyone” sees her as only “a fat nose on thick legs.”

      As she matures, she receives counsel from others. The third stanza lists behaviors aimed at promoting her happiness and success. In time, her natural goodness breaks down like a worn-out automobile part. Finally, as an adult, she permanently rids herself of her perceived inadequacies by means of a sacrificial offering."
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      "Barbie Doll" tells the story of a girl who grows up to find out she does not look quite as she should. Because she wants the approval of others she attempts to compensate for her imperfections in other areas. She soon grows tired of her efforts and in desperation chops off the offending parts of her body taking her own life. In the hands of the undertaker, however, she finally achieves what she could not in life: perfection and hence approval.

      The apt title given to the poem points to the central and controlling device of irony and the symbolic associations between the doll and the women in the poem. The Barbie Doll, more than being a favorite with adolescent girls, is a cultural icon of femininity that carries with it complex associations of ideal beauty and desirability. Piercy wishes to expose the destructiveness behind such ideals by showing the extent to which many women will go to achieve them."
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by Sara R. Horowitz
"From an early age, Piercy grappled with issues of identity. In race-torn Detroit, her Jewishness set her apart, eliciting antisemitic bullying. At home, her discomfited father “told me I wasn’t Jewish and ... mother ... would wait till he went to work and tell me of course I was.”
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/piercy-marge

December 20, 1999
WRITERS ON WRITING
Life of Prose and Poetry — An Inspiring Combination
By MARGE PIERCY
"Whenever I face an audience with at least minimal familiarity with my work, there are two questions always asked: “Why do you write both fiction and poetry?” “What’s the difference between writing poetry and fiction?” I have various glib answers I whip out of my failing brain. I mention that while it may be rarer for men to cross genre lines, some, like Richard Price, who produces fiction and film scripts, do. However, many women work in more than one genre, and then I rattle off a list: Margaret Atwood, Erica Jong, Adrienne Rich, Alice Walker, Rita Dove, Colleen McElroy, Nikki Giovanni, Joan Didion, Lillian Hellman, Linda Hogan; and that’s without trying hard."
http://margepiercy.com/about-marge/interviews/new-york-times-writers-on-writing-series-essay/