Leah Umansky’s chapbook both celebrates and transcends its subject, the iconic Mad Men television series. You don’t have to love or even know the show to go where Umansky takes us in this scathing dissection of American advertising, pop culture, and gender. Complete with a cover image taken from Umansky’s own collage art.

Creation by Design

If you treat a woman right,
they’ll keep wanting.
When youth fades,
no one’s gonna put out.
Isn’t that something:
the way beauty 
does a switchback?

When I kiss you,
I want the blood 
to devastate your cheeks;
and when you
garb yourself
in lipstick as you
step into the night’s arms,
I want the color
to repeat itself
down your neck;
So you remember
that lipstick
wasn’t made for you,
but for me;
So that I can remember
what a man does
to his woman.

That rouge
is a man’s tool;
is a man’s rule,
and we create
color to hunt
and gather;
to create
an incredible
sensation
that gives you
hotpants and me
something
to control.