by Lorene Delany-Ullman
Feed the plastic face
(mouth like a fish)
with a plastic nipple. Will she grow?
Instead she leaks from unknown cracks.
The leakage is important; she’ll drown
in the bath, too much water
fades her eyebrows,
Her hair becomes ragged and
loses its permanent curl.
Nothing is worse than a naked doll,
no button or label to name her, not a mole
or freckle to call remarkable,
no shoes or a single sock.
Lorene Delany-Ullman is a poet who lives in Irvine, California and teaches at UC Irvine.
*Photo courtesy of Lara604.