Famous People

Today I Am Robert Mitchum

Big pants and a fedora,
pockets full of cigarettes.

I'll smoke one every 15 minutes
and no one will complain.

Stained fingers
and nicotine breath

I'll be here
if you need me.


Bobby Fisher & Juliet Prowse

Bobby Fischer and Juliet Prowse
met in heaven
where everything is shiny
and good.

Not having bodies
in the physical realm
their dalliance was spiritual,
exciting none the less.

Bobby couldn't see
her legs
and she couldn't see
his end game.


The Abduction of Hedy Lamarr

We’re in my Auburn
boat-tailed speedster,
Hedy and I.

The mood is moonlight
in Vermont
but the scenery
is California,
ocean views and palm trees.

She is the most
beautiful woman
in the world–
her beauty is devastating,
and I am an expert driver.

I’m taking her
to Mexico
but all she wants
to talk about
is her frequency-hopped
spread spectrum
invention
for which she has
just received
patent #2,292,387.

I listen.

We round a curve
and I accelerate
into the soft blue night
headed for the border.


Franchot Tone Is In

Franchot Tone is in
the waiting room
smoking

which surprises me,
but there he is
with yet another cigarette

going on
about Bette Davis;
“an encyclopedia of nuance,
ethereal and strange”

he said crushing out
his Chesterfield.