The image of 20 giggling girls and all of them blonde, while not racist seems a bit implausible. And I think the use of Goldilocks isn't quite the subversive point that Dove seems to think it is. I think most kids, whatever their race, see Goldilocks as a spolied intruder who kind of gets what she deserves. But I think the poem works pretty well and I like it up to the last two words. Up till then I believe it as a portrait of an African American speaker justifiably at the end of their tether given current events and the history preceding them, but acknowledging the subjective nature of their emotions and irritability ("Unfair, /I know, my aggression"). The last two words seem to tip it into a sense of inevitability that these girls are going to grow up (presumably) adding to the sum of racism in the world. It feels a little like a cheap horror movie twist that doesn't convince like the rest of the poem.
Of course this reaction could just be my white fragility talking.
Last edited by Mark McDonnell; 07-21-2020 at 05:42 AM.
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