Close Encounters with Marilyn Munroe by Andrea Martineau

February 8, 2022
Poem name: Close Encounters with Marilyn Munroe Poet name: Andrea Martineau Poem begins: chinless wonder in black, white, and diamonds framed, draped on the wall of the chicken wing joint shoulders curved forward, breasts about to spill, head tossed back in a careful, carefree laugh chinless wonder on my 2009 Facebook feed white one piece, blonde wreath of keratin, writhing on the beach brows arched up to widen the face, the backdrop for a meme with a poorly chosen font: “real men love natural curves, only dogs love bones” chinless wonder on a true crime pod to ponder: dead because you used or because you were so, so used? kate and I ruminate over the truth driving over the tracks skirting this summer town the glow of Wikipedia on an iPhone; a lighthouse beacon atop a canola ocean chinless wonder, it’s 2013 and your medical records guarded by Gurdin are available for purchasin’ — Marilyn Miller, Joan Newman: bovine graft, fractured nose, one stitch under the chin chinless wonder, was it your call, a fall, the psychiatrist, your publicist? is it bad I’m relieved the revelation of your tweak- ments save me from a feat of God-given beauty I cannot compete with? did the scalpel liberate or dominate? chinless wonder. I do wonder End of poem. Credits: Copyright © Andrea Martineau Andrea Martineau is a poet, bibliophile, and phytomaniac with a penchant for heritage buildings and their paranormal tenants. She left her hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to complete her Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Regina, and now resides in the Queen City with her family, rescue cats, Horsfield tortoise, and collection of houseplants. Her poetry has previously been published