Barbie's Tender Clothing Poem by Andrei Sen-Senkov

*

under her dress
you can sometimes
find the woman
who later causes
girls
to kiss the soft paws
of toy Soviet gynecologists

*

the latest Barbie
is made of such tender plastic
her underwear
leaves a mark
that is
of course
if for a prolonged time
the doll sits uncomfortably on the lap of a stranger

*

inside this woman
is that
for which
the policemen of small American cities
get paid

*

in the complete Barbie set
is a tiny object
the use of which
is not obvious

when you finally figure out
what it's for
the doll
suddenly
grabs the object
from your hands

*

she never came to me
in a dream
however
those 1970's Soviet dolls did
with their honest
innocuous fingers
always grown together

Translated by Peter Golub