Can You Guess Who Wrote This Beautifully Somber Poetry?
There are two beautiful passages of poetry I came across today and you'll never guess who wrote them:
Only parts of us will ever
touch parts of others -
one's own truth is just that really - o̲n̲e̲'s̲ own truth.
We can only share the part that is understood within another's knowing acceptable
so one
is for most part a̲l̲o̲n̲e̲.
As it is meant to be in
evidently in nature - at best perhaps it could make
our understanding seek
another's loneliness out.
and
Life -
I am of both of your directions
Somehow remaining hanging downward
the most
but strong as a cobweb in the
wind - I exist more with the cold glistening frost.
But my beaded rays have the colors I've
seen in a paintings - ah life they
have cheated you
At this point, I'm guessing approximately 0.000001% of you could pin the author, right?
Well, let's describe the sorrowful poet a bit more.
Beginning
She was born in 1926 to a poor Mid-Western mother who had her placed in a loving Christian home where she could visit her daughter on weekends. The first years of the future poet's life were likely pleasant and serene.
Still, at the age of seven her mother had a mental breakdown. She had to be institutionalized for what was probably schizophrenia, leaving our young author in a series of foster homes and orphanages during her upbringing.
Can you guess who yet?
Hobbies
She was an avid book reader, having over 400 books in her personal library when she passed away years later. Many were even original first print copies, something she probably took pride in. The works she consumed included light Sunday reading such as Ulysses, Dostoyevsky, and Milton.
During her third career, she would use her nights to attend UCLA literature classes, unbeknownst to most people around her.
She was also interested in photography and modeling, at one point it was discovered she had a series of nude photos which attracted a lot of attention at the time.
Her other notable interests were jazz, Italian restaurants, and a passion for classic comedies.
How about now?
Marriage
Throughout her short life, she was married a total of three times.
Her first was at the young age of 16, which precluded her first step into the workforce at a target drone aircraft factory during WWII. (I didn't know this was a thing either.)
The marriage was to her neighbor's 21-year-old son, a scheme to avoid being placed back in the orphanage system. She dropped out of high school shortly after to be a housewife, a situation where she was "dying of boredom."
Her second marriage was something we'd instantly recognize nowadays. A flash celebrity romance involving a famous athlete and lasting only nine months - resulting in a divorce because of "mental cruelty," officially.
Her third and final marriage was to a renowned but not quite handsome intellectual, playwright, and essayist. A prominent magazine at the time described their union as "Egghead Weds Hourglass." It also ended in divorce 5 years after.
Before her death, she rekindled a strong friendship with her second husband. Just four days before her death, it was rumored he was going to ask her to remarry her.
He delivered a half dozen red flowers to her grave three times a week for two decades after her passing.
Ring a bell yet?
Career
She first started working in airplane factories during WWII, where a chance encounter led to her second career - a pin-up model.
The pin-up life was so successful it led to her third career and to the world knowing who she was. She had to divorce her first husband to enter into this industry, although he was apparently against it anyway.
The next 15 years in the high-flying movie business were as glamorous as they were sad.
The young lady had numerous problems dealing with the stress of acting, the press, and the difficulties of working in an industry noted for the oppression of women.
She had a reputation for being a "dumb blonde," even though she was naturally a brunette and hated the image the movies kept forcing her to portray.
She died at the young age of 36, with her passing ruled a probable suicide after a years-long battle with depression and a barbiturate addiction.
Who is it?
As I'm sure many of you have guessed by now, the author of the somber poetry above is Norma Jeane Baker, more commonly known as Marilyn Monroe.
A tragic life of a woman who wrote tragic poetry in her tragic private life, describing the paradoxes of living a life in front of the camera, but feeling separated from this reality in her own world.
"People had a habit of looking at me as if I were some kind of mirror instead of a person. They didn't see me, they saw their own lewd thoughts, then they white-masked themselves by calling me the lewd one."
Even her name Marilyn Monroe was a persona to her, and perhaps not one she enjoyed too much. It's said that she'd often refer to Marilyn in the 3rd person when planning acting scenes.
"I kept driving past the theater with my name on the marquee. 'Marilyn Monroe.' Was I excited. I wished they were using 'Norma Jeane' so that all the kids at the home and schools who never noticed me could see it."
and
"I never wanted to be Marilyn - it just happened. Marilyn's like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane."
But I found the most interesting part of my research today to be about her personal life, away from the cameras and fame and stress. About her enviable private pursuit of knowledge, reading, and self-reflection.
"I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public - talent in privacy."
And with that, I leave you with a collection of amazing quotes from Norma Jeane and an incredibly moving picture of her taken in 1957.
Curated Marilyn Monroe Quotes
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
"I read poetry to save time."
"We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets."
"I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that's not easy."
"Sometimes things fall apart, so that better things can fall together."
"A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night."
"Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you'd never complete your life, would you? You'd never wholly know you."
"It's all make believe, isn't it?"
J.J. Pryor
Note: I wrote this piece today after seeing an article mention a book called Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. It's a relatively unknown collection of Marilyn Monroe's private notes and poems that were published decades after her death. Something truly fascinating about a figure I didn't know much about yesterday. (That's an affiliate link.)
Thanks for reading!
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Image credits:
First photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash
By Dell Publications, Inc. New York, publisher of Modern Screen (Page 34) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
U.S. Army photographer David Conover’s shot, work of the U.S. federal government, and public domain in the United States, via Wikipedia
I managed to guess who the poet was, but that's because I recently watched the documentary about her. The famous stars like Viola Davis and etc read out excerpts of her diary, letters and etc. It was surprising to see how much depth and beauty are captured in her words. Surprising because, like many, I only saw the beauty that was Marilyn Monroe and not the soul of Norma Jeane.
Beautiful post and tribute to a most misunderstood woman and star.
She was a deeper person than she gets credit for being, and that's just sad.