Marge Piercy "barbie doll"

Throughout history women have fought for their rights and engaged in the fight for independence from the view society saw women as. Women have always been depicted as house wives where men were always dominant, and today in the media women are told they need to look skinny with pretty faces, and if not considered pretty to get surgery done to fix who they are to fit society’s image. Us as women are taught to play with Barbie dolls, where dresses, not to seem so available, and “stick to what we know”.  Marge Piercy is an organizer in political movements; she sustained involvement with feminism, Marxism, and environmental thought.  Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” focuses on the image of women and how little girls becoming women, have to act a certain way according to what society says is acceptable.  Placing a certain idea in women’s minds on how they are supposed to act, look, and engage in certain matters corrupting little girl’s minds from young.

ferlinghetti

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a poetic activist such as Allen Ginsberg who defies popular political movements, and who believes that everyone should have an opinion not just those of higher power and higher income. Ferlinghetti’s work reflects the influence of American idiom and modern jazz. “Constantly Risking Absurdity” is a poem about a writer a poet’s life of the risks they take in society when expressing themselves and going against those who disagree and have the power to shut them down.