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“Dustin Brooshire’s Never Picked First For Playtime is an astute take on contemporary society as seen through a Barbie tinted lens. Brookshire proves masterful at providing keen observations through short, laser sharp poems that unpack an assortment of modern day issues that include COVID protocols, anti-vaxxing crusaders, the MAGAverse, systemic racism, homophobia, a Biblical origin story for misogyny, a portrait of political chicanery, and the middle aged right of passage that is a colonoscopy. Brookshire goes as far as to deconstruct one of our national treasures through one of his deliciously wry and bite sized pieces–the Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuit. At turns poignant, hilarious, cheeky and deadly serious, Never Picked First For Playtime needs not fear the fate of its title–this beauty is destined to be picked up again and again.”
-Caridad Moro-Gronlier, author of Tortillera
“Look out Margot Robbie—here’s the real truth about the fashion icon who started as a gag gift party doll. Dustin Brookshire’s got the true intel. Taking a cue from his friend and mentor Denise Duhamel, Dustin Brookshire’s renderings of Barbie are beyond Beyonce fierce, Toy Story without the other toys—these poems put the fun in dysfunction and the tics in politics. This collection is hilarious, cutting, knowing—we thought we knew everything about Barbie, but the truth is, she’s everywhere: she’s the omniscient pulse of a consumerist nation, and Dustin Brookshire pulls out all the tropes to make us laugh and cringe at what our fave fashion doll has become.”
—Allison Joseph, author of Confessions of a Barefaced Woman
Dustin Brookshire 