at Length
from Barbie Chang
Barbie Chang Got Her Hair Done
Barbie Chang got her hair done for
the school auction
where people raise paddles made
with popsicle sticks
Barbie Chang was afraid sick of the
Circle since she heard of
their shopping for matching dresses
her heart told her
to let them be circular circulate only
with their particulars
avoid the peculiars so out of the nest
she flew into the auction
grinning against the wall in the corner
in came the Circle half
drunk tossing coins at baskets one in
pink another in green
one in orange one purple matching
martini barrettes a
perfectly clenching Circle glowing like
a rainbow that seemed
low enough to reach to touch Barbie
Chang would never admit
it but she still wanted the rainbow to rain
on her to wear bows in her
hair that meant she belonged somewhere
West she owed it to
her children to make friends to blend
into the deadened end
Barbie Chang’s Mother Made Her
Barbie Chang’s mother made her
wear two pair of
underwear no wonder she is weird
can’t fit in over
here still Barbie Chang is hopeful
hippingly so to be
included in the Circle smiling with a
mouthful of bees that
look from afar like braces each
day at school she
waits for the Circle holding her smile
while the bees rake
their stingers in her mouth it’s a myth
California is a
melting pot the Vietnamese plot from
Westminster the
Chinese from Irvine the Chinese are
spreading the Circle
is having weddings with each other the
Circle is weeding certain
plants out and maintaining the natives
the Circle is running
to the coast but there are no more boats
nowhere else to go there
is war even here there is terror land to
grab people to claim
millions of bodies rushing out of homes
like smoked bees
Barbie Chang Loves Evites
Barbie Chang loves Evites Paperless
Party Posts that host her
ego patch her holes she puts barrettes
on her heart so other
people will see her will hear her her
heart is made of hay is
disturbingly small held in its cage she
is never late when invited
her heart smells like moth balls jumps
at every broth bell her heart
growls more each day she trims it with
a number two its messy
work missing her aorta by a little bit so
her heart is always sort of
bleeding she is always sorting her email
for invitations once she
heard the Circle planning a birthday
party for a daughter she
stationed herself sipped water for days
waiting for the Evite
leaving her Kindle on as a nightlight it
glowed a blue garden on
the ceiling she let her guard down it never
made a ringing sound she
wasn’t proud never told anyone it wasn’t
for her daughter but
she heard the ice skating party was a hit
little girls going in figure
eights their breath coming out in little
clouds shaped like little
white hearts ready to combine with
another little white
heart nothing like this should be heard
those who have won
should pass the pins on to a new
generation station
themselves where they are no reason
to rate each other no
reason to let others in let others spin
the wheel it’s Halloween
again and time for chosen children to
wear matching costumes
they must not know their skin already
smells of the same perfume
Barbie Chang’s Mother Only Cares
Barbie Chang’s mother only cares
about money
who has it who has more forks in
the drawer land in
their hand a little city resides in
Barbie Chang’s hand
as she handed her life down to her
children the little city
wasn’t worth much slum mulch made
it unlivable but Barbie
Chang loved the lights at night her
hand filled with stars
animals stared at the glow and
none of them ever
wanted to bite her hand off since
the hand and its lights
made sense once a woman named
Millicent asked Barbie
Chang if her diamonique necklace
was real if the city
in her hand was real she was from
Connecticut and
told Barbie Chang she was the favorite
at the firm she always
asked Barbie which partner she was
working with why she
parted her hair down the middle always
asked her where she
was from Barbie Chang wished
she had a father
named Don Swan then she would
know how to respond
swimming in a pond twenty years later
it rains and from
below the woman’s words still beat onto
her body like snow
Once Barbie Chang Watched
Once Barbie Chang watched two
Chinese women fill
out stacks of raffle entries at the store
for the mower she
could understand their Mandarin
but Darren the worker
just laughed at them Barbie Chang
didn’t know whether to
laugh at the ladies or to fill out more
entries for the raffle she
didn’t need a lawn mower or a snow
blower the women at
school ask her if she knows of any
science classes for their
kids if her kids go to Kumon Barbie
Chang never uses
coupons loves croutons on her salad
her favorite holiday is
Halloween she can wear a mask and
bask that she lives in the
nicest neighborhood around it doesn’t
matter what round it is
she knows she can never win because
prizes always have eyes
Victoria Chang‘s third book of poems, The Boss (McSweeney’s), won the PEN Center USA Literary Award and a California Book Award. Her other books are Salvnia Molesta and Circle. She also published a children’s picture book, Is Mommy?, illustrated by Marla Frazee and published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster. Her poems have appeared in various places like American Poetry Review, POETRY, Kenyon Review, New Republic, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Narrative. She lives in Southern California.
You can read an excerpt from Chang’s The Boss here.