"C'EST PRESQU'AU BOUT DU MONDE..." ( IT WAS ALMOST TO THE END OF THE WORLD )
She believed that deep deep inside her
the flame of a femme fatale burned brightly.
Could imagine herself stepping out of some classic Film Noir.
Cultivated herself to look like Marie Windsor
opposite the dangerously gorgeous John Garfield.
But her life it seemed had her stepping into an Edward Hopper.
The isolation and the paint still wet.
The lonely lady glimpsed in an hotel window
from a passing train autumnal rain.
Still she acted always as if she was in her own movie
walking aroundΒ Β her tiny flat naked
except for red stilettos red earrings...red lipstick.
Making up her own snappy lines to some imaginary leading man.
"Are you decent?" "Yes""
"But you're....you're naked!" "You only asked if I was decent!"
The mirror laughed catching the reflection of who
she could have been given half the chance.
She never stood a chance.
She threw a cigarette up in the air caught it between her lips
her one and only party trick.
Lit or unlit. Searching for middle C
on a battered piano her mind off key
abandoning it the piano's yellow smile.
She watched the sunlight carve a block of time
out of the dividing wall. fading the wallpaper roses.
The bed that was always empty...always unmade.
She danced to Weil's Youkali Tango.
Put it on again...again. Scratching an already scratched record.
The needle gathering fluff. The porcelain milkmaid...dust.
She disliked the way sweat gathered under her *******.
They were always a little too large. Hated men staring so hard.
Ahhhh the faded romance a sunset heart attack.
Couldn't have wrote herself a better script.
Staggering in her dance gasping that all too unsubstantial
air as if trying to catch time
the presentpastfuture falling out of her hand.
The wooden acorn of the tattered blind
tapping against the ***** window pane.
Neon going green. Then red.
Now blue. And then green again.
She did everything to be a Marie WIndsor lookalike...knew all her films even small(uncredited)roles as in The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend! And she was so funny and her quips were quick as a whip.
Marie Windsor was even a gag writer for Jack Benny way back when! She wrote under M.E. Windsor 'cos she was afraid he wouldn't accept a female gag writer. When he finally met her he thought my God she's gorgeous and got her a contract.
The one I always remember her in was was opposite John Garfield in Force of Evil playing seductress Edna Tucker.
She was the "It" girl for Film Noir...the femme fatale of 'em all..tall, voluptuous and leggy...she had to bend at the knees to walk with small Garfield!