Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? I was told about the Marilyn Monroe anthology by one of the poets, Suzanne Sigafoos. Suzanne is in a poetry critique group with me. Since I completely recall Marilyn Monroe’s death, which occurred the night of my 11th birthday, I thought I could crank out a poem.
Dearth of Marilyn Monroe News Clip
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I just wrote it that night. Boom. This rarely happens so quickly. I sent it into the Susanna the next morning and received an acceptance that day or the next. As I say, this kind of quick writing and acceptance is rare.
Click on the below link to visit the Facebook page of Suzanne Sigafoos.
https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.sigafoos
I wrote the poem in my office, lying on the bed, which is covered in a deep red and gold brocade duvet that a friend gave me. I was writing on a MACbook Air. It was very stream of consciousness writing, but every time I read it now, I edit it. It originally had a different last stanza, but the editors of the anthology wanted to change it and did. But I chronically edit and have changed the ending since publication.
My office used to be my daughters’ bedroom. It is pale pink with a pink rug, several bookshelves, a desk surrounded by lots of art supplies (for the illustrating I do), and two bulletin boards filled with photos of grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren and dogs.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? It was written in February of 2021.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? The ending was changed but I am unable to find the original.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? It is really a flash memoir. The mix of that 11-year-old birthday, that first taste of freedom when I got to stay in the add-on room away from the family, the spaghetti-strap dress and the sadness I felt about Marilyn Monroe’s death, almost a foreshadowing of the sadnesses to come as I would be beset by puberty and all its pathos and doubt—and the expanded awareness of life’s tragedies as I grew up.
Click on the link read about “What is Flash Memoir” by Jane Hertenstein
https://www.writersonthemove.com/2013/07/what-is-flash-memoir.html
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? Somehow clothes are something I always remember that mark my memories. Remembering that orange dress, my tan, and my already developed desire to escape the family—which was full of drama and disappointment.
Has this poem been published? And if so where? This poem was published in the new Marilyn Monroe anthology I Wanna Be Loved By You.
Click on below to visit Leanne Grabel’s website
Most of the BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links can be found at the very end of the below feature:
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/02/will-justice-drakes-intercession-is-251.html