Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Jotamario Arbeláez

THE MISFITS WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MARILYN

Now that the worms have thrown the last shovelful of oblivion onto your body
now that you live under Los Angeles without needing psychiatrists
now that the haughty bone of your thigh is just dust in a box
and your buttocks are pure dust spread on the satin floor of your tomb
now that the totality of your body fits into the smallest of your powder boxes
now that your toenails lie at your feet scattered like dead planets and
           the platinum heels of your gala shoes bend in champagne
           baskets under the terrible weight of the
absence of your Achilles’ 
heel
now that the moths in your wardrobe have done the same with your dresses
smelling of Beverly Hills parties of Chanel number 5 of the five fingers of a hand
now that the eccentric millionaire that rented the mansion you
           lived in in Brentwood has quit looking for your armpits in
           every nook and cranny of the living-room and is organizing
           a rhinoceros safari in Peru for his guests
now that the psychiatrist who treated you went bankrupt
and is now writing your ‘memoirs’ to pay his taxes and also because his
           three wives are really missing the monthly twelve thousand
           dollars fee you used to pay him
now that the sleeping pills that you took are running out in drugstores
like definitive lullabies
now that even in the old celluloid films your eyes are closing tired
of so many eyelashes so much vigil so many beams



now that nobody knows who was norma jean baker because
           Baker Norma Jeans abound in the telephone directories
now that 188 thousand million psychopaths no longer see you in
           English with subtitles in Spanish like a witch of Salem flying on
           a baseball bat
now that your ex-husband\'s drama about your life has not moved
           the Broadway critics one way or another
and the photographers\'s sun has forever ceased to illuminate you
oh she-cat full of mystery on the Mercedes Benz of oblivion
in this tiny Latin American country called Colombia
live several misfit poets who don’t want to forget you
(you Marilyn were more important to us than the Monroe doctrine)
and who remember you when the moon rises over the Jaguars
when we slide down the steps of the jet
when we read in the press that Dalí has made a sculpture of your tits with drawers
when a white double-decker ambulance passes swiftly besides us like a siren
and our wives shout from the top of the elevators
Sometimes like now we raise a prayer to you why not raise you in a prayer
in a requiem and an anti-requiem in a prayer to the dead about whom we know only the names
only that every man prays to the one he loves most
especially if the one he loves most is dead
and it is then that we want to lie face down in the Westwood cementery
to feel in our pubic pores the blades of grass that grow in your American groin
now that you’re dead and repose without much hope in the resurrection of the body
in that small place which is the belly button of America
after living among spotlights and fog
                 with shopkeepers and tycoons
                 with dramatists and policemen
                 among the mirrors and the mirage
                 of love

LOS INADAPTADOS NO THE OLVIDAMOS MARILYN

LOS INADAPTADOS NO THE OLVIDAMOS MARILYN

Ahora que los gusanos han echado sobre tu cuerpo la primera palada de olvido 
ahora que vives debajo de Los Ángeles sin necesidad de psiquátras
ahora que el hueso altivo de tu cadera es puro polvo en una caja
y puro polvo son tus nalgas diseminadas por el suelo de raso de tu tumba
ahora que la totalidad de tu cuerpo cabe en la más pequeña de tus polveras
ahora que las uñas de tus pies yacen a tus pies disgregadas como 
          planetas muertos y los tacones de platin de tus zapatillas de 
          gala se doblan entre canastas de champaña bajo el peso 
          terrible de la ausencia de tu talón de Aquiles
ahora que en tu ropero los polillas han hecho lo propio con tus trajes olorosos a fiesta
en Beverly Hills a Chanel número 5 a los cinco dedos de una mano
ahora que el millonario excéntrico que alquiló la mansión que 
          habitabas en Brentwood ha dejado de buscar tus axilas en los 
          rincones de la sala y organiza con sus invitados un safari de 
          rinocerontes en Perú
ahora que el psiquiátra que te atendía se ha declarado en quiebra y 
          para pagar sus impuestos está escribiendo tus ‘memorias’ y 
          y además porque a sus tres esposas les hacen mucha falta los 
          doce mil dólares que le entregabas de honorarios
ahora que las pastillas soporíferas que tomaste se agotan rápidamente 
          en las farmacias como canciones de cuna definitivas
ahora que hasta en las cintas viejas de celuloide se están cerrando tus 
          ojos cansados de soportar tanta pestaña tanta vigilia tanta viga
ahora que ya nadie sabe quién era norma jean baker porque las Baker 
          norma jean abundan en los directorios telefónicos
ahora que los 188 mil millones de psicópatas ya no te ven en sueños 
          en inglés con leyendas en castellano como una bruja de salem 
          volando sobre un bate de béisbol
ahora que la obra dramática de tu ex marido sobre tu vida ha quedado 
en tablas ante los críticos de Broadway
y ha dejado para siempre de alumbrarte el sol de los fotógrafos
oh gata llena de misterio sobre el mercedes benz del olvido
en este pequeño país latinoamericano que se llama Colombia
vivimos varios poetas inadaptados que no queremos olvidarte
(tú Marilyn fuiste más importante para nosotros que la doctrina Monroe)
y que nos acordamos de ti cuando sale la luna sobre los “jaguares”
cuando bajamos deslizándonos por la pasarela del jet
cuando leemos en la prensa que Dalí ha hecho de tus senos una escultura de gavetas
cuando pasa por nuestro lado veloz como una sirena una ambulancia blanca de dos pisos 
y nuestras mujeres gritan en los más alto de los ascensores
A veces como ahora te elevamos una oración por qué no te elevamos en una oración
en un réquiem en un anti-réquiem en un responso qué sabemos de esos nombres
solo que cada hombra ora a lo que más ama
sobre todo si lo que más ama está muerto
y es entonces cuando queremos acostarnos boca abajo en el cementerio de Westwood
para sentir en nuestros poros púbicos las lanzas de hierba que crecen desde tus ingles norteamericanas
ahora que estás muerta y reposas sin muchas esperanzas en la resurrección de los cuerpos
en ese pequeño lugar que es como el ombliguito de América
luego de haber vivido entre reflectores y niebla 
          entre almacenistas y magnates 
          entre dramaturgos y policías 
          entre los espejos y los espejimos 
          del amor
Close

THE MISFITS WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MARILYN

Now that the worms have thrown the last shovelful of oblivion onto your body
now that you live under Los Angeles without needing psychiatrists
now that the haughty bone of your thigh is just dust in a box
and your buttocks are pure dust spread on the satin floor of your tomb
now that the totality of your body fits into the smallest of your powder boxes
now that your toenails lie at your feet scattered like dead planets and
           the platinum heels of your gala shoes bend in champagne
           baskets under the terrible weight of the
absence of your Achilles’ 
heel
now that the moths in your wardrobe have done the same with your dresses
smelling of Beverly Hills parties of Chanel number 5 of the five fingers of a hand
now that the eccentric millionaire that rented the mansion you
           lived in in Brentwood has quit looking for your armpits in
           every nook and cranny of the living-room and is organizing
           a rhinoceros safari in Peru for his guests
now that the psychiatrist who treated you went bankrupt
and is now writing your ‘memoirs’ to pay his taxes and also because his
           three wives are really missing the monthly twelve thousand
           dollars fee you used to pay him
now that the sleeping pills that you took are running out in drugstores
like definitive lullabies
now that even in the old celluloid films your eyes are closing tired
of so many eyelashes so much vigil so many beams



now that nobody knows who was norma jean baker because
           Baker Norma Jeans abound in the telephone directories
now that 188 thousand million psychopaths no longer see you in
           English with subtitles in Spanish like a witch of Salem flying on
           a baseball bat
now that your ex-husband\'s drama about your life has not moved
           the Broadway critics one way or another
and the photographers\'s sun has forever ceased to illuminate you
oh she-cat full of mystery on the Mercedes Benz of oblivion
in this tiny Latin American country called Colombia
live several misfit poets who don’t want to forget you
(you Marilyn were more important to us than the Monroe doctrine)
and who remember you when the moon rises over the Jaguars
when we slide down the steps of the jet
when we read in the press that Dalí has made a sculpture of your tits with drawers
when a white double-decker ambulance passes swiftly besides us like a siren
and our wives shout from the top of the elevators
Sometimes like now we raise a prayer to you why not raise you in a prayer
in a requiem and an anti-requiem in a prayer to the dead about whom we know only the names
only that every man prays to the one he loves most
especially if the one he loves most is dead
and it is then that we want to lie face down in the Westwood cementery
to feel in our pubic pores the blades of grass that grow in your American groin
now that you’re dead and repose without much hope in the resurrection of the body
in that small place which is the belly button of America
after living among spotlights and fog
                 with shopkeepers and tycoons
                 with dramatists and policemen
                 among the mirrors and the mirage
                 of love

THE MISFITS WILL NEVER FORGET YOU MARILYN

Now that the worms have thrown the last shovelful of oblivion onto your body
now that you live under Los Angeles without needing psychiatrists
now that the haughty bone of your thigh is just dust in a box
and your buttocks are pure dust spread on the satin floor of your tomb
now that the totality of your body fits into the smallest of your powder boxes
now that your toenails lie at your feet scattered like dead planets and
           the platinum heels of your gala shoes bend in champagne
           baskets under the terrible weight of the
absence of your Achilles’ 
heel
now that the moths in your wardrobe have done the same with your dresses
smelling of Beverly Hills parties of Chanel number 5 of the five fingers of a hand
now that the eccentric millionaire that rented the mansion you
           lived in in Brentwood has quit looking for your armpits in
           every nook and cranny of the living-room and is organizing
           a rhinoceros safari in Peru for his guests
now that the psychiatrist who treated you went bankrupt
and is now writing your ‘memoirs’ to pay his taxes and also because his
           three wives are really missing the monthly twelve thousand
           dollars fee you used to pay him
now that the sleeping pills that you took are running out in drugstores
like definitive lullabies
now that even in the old celluloid films your eyes are closing tired
of so many eyelashes so much vigil so many beams



now that nobody knows who was norma jean baker because
           Baker Norma Jeans abound in the telephone directories
now that 188 thousand million psychopaths no longer see you in
           English with subtitles in Spanish like a witch of Salem flying on
           a baseball bat
now that your ex-husband\'s drama about your life has not moved
           the Broadway critics one way or another
and the photographers\'s sun has forever ceased to illuminate you
oh she-cat full of mystery on the Mercedes Benz of oblivion
in this tiny Latin American country called Colombia
live several misfit poets who don’t want to forget you
(you Marilyn were more important to us than the Monroe doctrine)
and who remember you when the moon rises over the Jaguars
when we slide down the steps of the jet
when we read in the press that Dalí has made a sculpture of your tits with drawers
when a white double-decker ambulance passes swiftly besides us like a siren
and our wives shout from the top of the elevators
Sometimes like now we raise a prayer to you why not raise you in a prayer
in a requiem and an anti-requiem in a prayer to the dead about whom we know only the names
only that every man prays to the one he loves most
especially if the one he loves most is dead
and it is then that we want to lie face down in the Westwood cementery
to feel in our pubic pores the blades of grass that grow in your American groin
now that you’re dead and repose without much hope in the resurrection of the body
in that small place which is the belly button of America
after living among spotlights and fog
                 with shopkeepers and tycoons
                 with dramatists and policemen
                 among the mirrors and the mirage
                 of love
Sponsors
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Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
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