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Beauty Mark
A Verse Novel of Marilyn Monroe
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Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
www.candlewick.com
I am nude —
about to be sewn into the dress
that I paid Oscar winner Jean Louis
twelve thousand dollars to design.
The sequined second skin I will wear
to sing “Happy Birthday”
to Jack Kennedy, the president.
I was coiffed by the same beautician
who does First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s hair.
Nothing in my Norma Jeane beginnings
pointed toward this moment.
This is no accident, though.
I rehearsed this song
until it became my breath.
I exhale memory after memory
while a stylist stitches me into history.
For hours, I stand perfectly still
as my shimmery silhouette takes shape.
I am silvery as a movie screen.
Hollywood’s old guard scoffed
that I could not act my way
out of a paper bag.
6•
Della Monroe and Gladys Baker:
Like Mother, Like Daughter
•7
Mama’s Dream House
• 13
My First Happy Time
18 •
But instead of scolding me,
she lifted me for a closer look.
That’s your father, she said.
He had a mustache and smiling eyes
and wore a slouched hat cocked to the side.
He was a dead ringer for Clark Gable,
the movie star. When I asked his name,
Mom locked herself in the bedroom.
His name wasn’t important to me then.
All I wanted was to call him my father.
• 19
Homeowners