Marilyn: The Misunderstood Legend by Night Hope at All poetry

She was a brilliant woman, far more than most realize.

She wrote poetry & also studied acting from the world-renowned

actor & director Lee Strasberg

(rose painting by Marilyn Monroe; it was a gift Marilyn gave

to President John F. Kennedy for his birthday.)

Author notes

Photographs of magazine cover reproduced by Danny Beatty,

my Beauty~full Husband, from my copy of the July~August 2008 issue of

"Poets & Writers" magazine

Bottom photograph: source unknown

Yes, she really DID read James Joyce's classic, "Ulysses"...

it's not just a prop.

In a list

What do you think?

Comments

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By me, right now

Adding your comment:
klassy lassy
April 27

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I never knew very much about Marilyn Monroe, except for her screen persona, and sensual natures for common women were frowned upon. Of course, they were there anyway. I could see it in the arched eyebrows and coiffed hair, and the musical laughter one of my aunts exuded. I wanted to be just like like her, magnetic and warm, and oh, so feminine.

But Marilyn Monroe's poetry touches even more deeply than that, I think because it feels so uncontrivedly vulnerable. This is the first of her poetry I've seen, and it makes me aware of a real person underneath the Hollywood facade, who like me (who is not physically beautiful), needed to "think in ink" simply for palpability, to know the essence of a muted heartbeat.

She was brilliant.
individuality
April 10

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i have a pastel picture i did of her some time ago, it is not online at the moment though or i would leave a link, i might add it to the art link in my page later though, when i wake up properly
csmmoms2
April 10
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Wow
http://allpoetry.com/poem/4651661
just mercedes
April 9

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I am a Marilyn fan, have been all my life. Have you read Blonde? It's wonderful.

I wrote a poem about her (as my alter-ego, reage) if you are interested, here is the link

http://allpoetry.com/poem/4921649
Poetdontknowit
April 9

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SWEEEETTT!
I am actually sitting here in my black and white Marilyn t-shirt! I wore it today and carried my Marilyn purse! How odd for me to come across your brilliant tribute to her. Wow! Majestic penning!
POETDONTKNOWIT
white stone
April 9
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Wonderful. I'm going to try to find some of her work to put on the borders.
- Night Hope
  April 9
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  www.ms-monroe.com/poems-art.html
  
  POETRY
  
  by Marilyn Monroe
  
  Life -
  I am of both your directions
  Existing more with the cold frost
  Strong as a cobweb in the wind
  Hanging downward the most
  Somehow remaining
  Those beaded rays have the colors
  I've seen in paintings - ah life
  they have cheated you...
  
  thinner than a cobweb's thread
  sheerer than any-
  but it did attach itself
  and held fast in strong winds
  and singed by leaping hot fires
  life - of which at singular times
  I am of both your directions -
  somehow I remain hanging downward the most
  as both of your directions pull me.
  
  From time to time
  I make it rhyme
  but don't hold that kind
  of thing against me-
  Oh well what the hell
  so it won't sell
  what I want to tell-
  is what's on my mind
  taint Dishes
  taint Wishes
  it's thoughts
  flinging by
  before I die
  and to think
  in ink
  
  To the Weeping Willow
  
  I stood beneath your limbs
  and you flowered and finally clung to me
  and when the wind struck with … the earth
  and sand- you clung to me.
  
  I left my home of green rough wood,
  A blue velvet couch.
  I dream till now
  A shiny dark bush
  Just left of the door.
  
  Down the walk
  Clickity clack
  As my doll in her carriage
  Went over the cracks-
  "We'll go far away."
  
  Don't cry my doll
  Don't cry
  I hold you and rock you to sleep
  Hush hush I'm pretending now
  I'm not your mother who died.
  
  Help Help
  Help I feel life coming closer
  When all I want is to die
  
  - 1958
  
  I could have loved you once
  and even said it
  But you went away,
  A long way away.
  When you came back it was too late
  And love was a forgotten word.
  Remember?
  
  - A poem from Marilyn to Bill Burnside in the late 40's.
  
  I've got a tear hanging over my beer that I can't let go
  It's too bad
  I feel sad
  When I got all my life behind me.
  If I had a little relief
  From this grief
  Then
  I could find a drowning straw to hold on to
  It's great to be alive.
  They say I'm lucky to be alive
  It's hard to figure out -
  When everything I feel -
  Hurts.
  
  O, time
  Be kind
  Help this weary being
  To forget what is sad to remember.
  Lose my loneliness,
  Ease my mind,
  While you eat my flesh.
  
  Nite of the nite
  Soothing
  Darkness
  Refreshes
  Air
  Seems different
  Night has no eyes nor no one
  Silence
  Except for the night itself.
  
  ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
- Night Hope
  April 9
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  http://www.marilyncollector.com/legend/mmpoems.html
  
  http://www.teamsugar.com/165788
  
  http://www.ms-monroe.com/poems-art.html
  
  from this link (above): "Marilyn Monroe was a talented painter and loved to write poetry. She always feared criticsm and judgement over her 'lack of knowledge' and would only show her poetry to very close friends like Norman Rosten, Milton Greene and Carl Sandberg. Marilyn's favorite poets included Whitman, Frost and e.e. cummings."
  
  http://www.marilynmonroememories.co.uk/poemsbymarilyn.html
  
  http://www.pifmagazine.com/SID/605/
  
  from this link (above):
  
  Three Poems by Marilyn Monroe
  
  1
  
  The smart one says the eye
  is not truly round. His are,
  though, fat with looking.
  
  2
  
  When the hourglass
  takes off its dress,
  the sand loosens and spreads.
  You cannot find a footing
  in me. They always said
  I was terrible in bed.
  
  3
  
  They taught my body
  to squeeze grapes.
  Warm wine pours out.
  And once or twice,
  a slick skin.
  
  http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/3928/
  
  Love And Marilyn Monroe
  
  by Delmore Schwartz
  
  (after Spillane)
  
  Let us be aware of the true dark gods
  Acknowledging the cache of the crotch
  The primitive pure and powerful pink and grey
  private sensitivities
  Wincing, marvelous in their sweetness, whence rises
  the future.
  
  Therefore let us praise Miss Marilyn Monroe.
  She has a noble attitude marked by pride and candor
  She takes a noble pride in the female nature and torso
  She articulates her pride with directness and exuberance
  She is honest in her delight in womanhood and manhood.
  She is not a great lady, she is more than a lady,
  She continues the tradition of Dolly Madison and Clara
  Bow
  When she says, "any woman who claims she does not like
  to be grabbed is a liar!"
  Whether true or false, this colossal remark
  states a dazzling intention...
  
  It might be the birth of a new Venus among us
  It atones at the very least for such as Carrie Nation
  For Miss Monroe will never be a blue nose,
  and perhaps we may hope
  That there will be fewer blue noses because
  she has flourished --
  Long may she flourish in self-delight and the joy
  of womanhood.
  A nation haunted by Puritanism owes her homage and
  gratitude.
  
  Let us praise, to say it again, her spiritual pride
  And admire one who delights in what she has and is
  (Who says also: "A woman is like a motor car:
  She needs a good body."
  And: "I sun bathe in the nude, because I want
  to be blonde all over.")
  
  This is spiritual piety and physical ebullience
  This is vivid glory, spiritual and physical,
  Of Miss Marilyn Monroe.
  
  from YouTube:
  
  Poems by Marilyn Monroe
  
  3 min 14 sec
  
  http://www.youtube.com
  
  Poems by Marilyn Monroe
  
  2 min 47 sec
  
  http://www.youtube.com