Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy and David Talamentez on the Last Day of Second Grade by Rosemary Catacalos

“Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy and “ David Talamentez on the Last Day of Second Grade” by Rosemary Catacalos are two poems that show a unique view into society and the roles society expects people to fill. Sometimes those expectations can lead people to take drastic measures or even cause defiance in some people. The irony of this is that it seems the more we push people to be what society wants the more it drives them to be what they don’t want.
In “David Talamentez…” (lines 57-59) “over by cars. On every single page David Talamantez has crossed out the teachers red numbers and written in giant letters, blue ink, Yes! David, yes!” All throughout the poem it is his teachers who will not accept him for who he is (13-17). “in the gutter and wanders toward home. David Talamantez believes birds are warm blooded, the way they are quick in the air and give out long strings of complicated music, different all the time, not like cats and dogs. For this he was marked down.” His opinion does not meet the criteria of what science teaches and his teachers want to change his idea by marking him d...