"Barbie Joins a Twelve Step Program" is an amusing and thought-provoking read. The fact that the writer chooses the subject of her work to be a Barbie is quite unexpected because after women grow up, I don't think we put too much thought into the toys we played with as children. This means that many of the readers of poetry are probably not familiar with Barbie as a subject to literature, so it is like discovering new and interesting territory. The use of this uncommon topic certainly inspires me to take a look at ideas and objects that are rarely spoken on in poetry. The unusual-ness of the subject also makes the story more humorous, which I take additional notes on. Putting Barbie in a twelve-step program shatters that ideology that children grow up with that Barbie is supposed to be perfect. Duhamel's run-down of a typical day in the life of a Barbie, like how she gets "kidnapped by boys" and being "left for months at a time between scratchy couch cushions" causes readers to see just how hectic a Barbie's life really is. After taking in the fact that she can't even move on her own without "the fists of young careless humans" toting her about, I see why she needs to be in a twelve-step program. I would also check myself into one if I had her problems. In the end, the poem creates a hilarious moral, because I now have sympathy for Barbie. Duhamel has really taught me to go along with an original subject and take the reader to a place that they will be surprised to end up, and a place that just may make them laugh a little.
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