Marilyn Monroe Wasn’t Born a Blonde
She wasn’t even born Marilyn Monroe—she was a curly-haired
brunette named Norma Jeane Mortenson. But curly-haired brunettes
named Norma Jeane aren’t any man’s fantasy. Gentlemen prefer blondes.
So she grabbed some peroxide and became a blonde bombshell.
That’s how to marry a millionaire. Become a shell of your former self.
Become the feminine ideal: golden locks and luscious lips the red
of Eve’s first apple. This is all about Eve, isn’t it? Listen to a snake
even once, and you’re floating down a river of no return.
Or it’s about Mary, mother of God, and Mary Magdalene, repentant prostitute.
All the ladies of the chorus agree; you can’t be both saint and sinner,
virgin and whore. There’s no business like show business so good
at convincing women to change their hair, their names, their fates,
at making the misfits into magdalenes. At turning the flames of fame
into the fireball that consumes you. And they will tell you that some
like it hot, but gentle hearts can’t handle heat. Norma Jeane, dy(e)ing
to become a blonde. Barbiturates at 36. Something’s got to give.
Trystan Popish is a poet and essayist from Colorado. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and can be found in Pleiades, The Sunlight Press, Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly, Rogue Agent Journal, and elsewhere. She lives in Denver with her husband, their toddler, diabetes, depression, two dogs, and two hairless guinea pigs. Find her at trystanpopish.com.
The Marbled Sigh 