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Answer Forthcoming (last edit, third title)

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indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Answer Forthcoming (last edit, third title)

Post by indar » Thu May 21, 2020 1:37 pm

Manner of Death

I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago,
it would have saved a lot of pain.
 
                                                                                   Peg Entwistle suicide note, September 18, 1932

Peg climbed Mount Lee
in a starless dark,

found herself
at the foot
of the glowing
sign

each letter singular,
big as a building
floating over
the land of dreams,.

She'd climbed
the heights
she climbed

the sign.

Why the H?
Her story lost in myth
where myth is born--

why the H,

of all her choices,
with means to ascend
behind all 9?

She was a star,
her note an apology
for unknown sin
found in

her neatly folded
sweater beneath her purse

at the foot of the letter:
the H.

She was a star--
died where a star
dome blossomed.

Nightly, they search
for answers
in deep space.



On the night of September 16, 1932, a young actress named Peg Entwistle left her uncle’s home, climbed the Santa Monicas to the Hollywood sign, climbed a maintenance ladder to the top of the letter “H,” and jumped to her death. She was 24 years old.

Peg found herself
at the foot
of the glowing
sign,

each letter singular,
big as a building
that floats over
the land of dreams

she'd climbed

the heights,
she climbed
the sign.

Why the H?
Her story lost in myth
where myth is born--

why the H,
of all her choices,
with means to ascend
behind all 9?

She was a star,
her note an apology
for unknown sin
found in

her folded sweater 
at the foot of the letter:
the H.

She was a star--
died where a star
dome blossomed.

Nightly, they search
for answers
in deep space.

!935 The Griffith Park Observatory was completed just below the Hollywood sign

I posted this poem a few years ago during my part-time tenure in L.A. I hiked that steep trail in Griffith Park to where the sign is pretty breathtaking. The Griffith observatory is open to the public and is itself quite a thrill. I am reposting this now because I see Netflix is going to release the "true" story of Peg Entwhistle. I therefore changed the title.
 

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Answer Forthcoming (rewrite of an old one)

Post by indar » Thu May 21, 2020 8:00 pm

Image
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Colm Roe
Posts: 2697
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:45 am

Re: Answer Forthcoming (rewrite of an old one)

Post by Colm Roe » Thu May 21, 2020 8:08 pm

I remember this poem well, thanks for reminding me and letting me know about Netflix.
One of the most touching details (I probably mentioned before) was the folded sweater. There's something sad about that act, and in a very subtle way, it 'shows' so much that I project myself there to ask her to put it back on, then walk her back home.
The H (from the photos I've seen) seems to have steeper ground beneath it, with a greater probability of a successful death compared to the other letters? No doubt there'll be lots of theories about H in the movie.
The short lines give an added sense of something being missed.
The final stanza is just so wonderful in every way.
Enjoyed this very much Linda.

murmac
Posts: 193
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:18 pm

Post by murmac » Mon May 25, 2020 9:59 am

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Last edited by murmac on Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:52 am, edited 3 times in total.

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Answer Forthcoming (rewrite of an old one)

Post by indar » Tue May 26, 2020 9:05 am

[font]https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/0 ... ap-summary[/font]

 Here is a link to the series. Stellar cast, strange series. I binged the 7 episodes. Its a let's pretend story that plays fast and loose with the historic facts. For instance Peg's part was not cut from the movie just completed, that is not why she jumped. The movie was released posthumously and screened again many years later as a fund raiser for a suicide prevention organization. The series is the way we wish things could have happened.

murmac
Posts: 193
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 7:18 pm

Post by murmac » Tue May 26, 2020 11:53 am

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Last edited by murmac on Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:52 am, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
Colm Roe
Posts: 2697
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:45 am

Re: Answer Forthcoming (rewrite of an old one)

Post by Colm Roe » Tue May 26, 2020 7:37 pm

Thanks for the link and fascinating info Linda and mur...I'm already hooked.

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Answer Forthcoming (last edit, third title)

Post by indar » Wed May 27, 2020 12:29 pm

OK I'm done with this one. I have written more than one poem about the Hollywood sign--isn't a sign a symbol after all and that sign symbolizes sooooo much. In the process I got really involved with the story of this suicide which became another Hollywood myth and part of that myth is that the sign is haunted. A person could publish an entire collection of poems about that sign.

Griffith Park itself exists as some kind of unreality in the middle of Los Angeles. I've hiked the whole trail which gets pretty steep. 

[font]https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=gr ... &FORM=IGRE[/font]

Also:

[font]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Observatory[/font]

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