29 Comments

Now having read this, I’m sure that poem was the inspiration for Elton John’s tribute to Marilyn called Candle in the Wind

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Beat me to it.

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Thanks for the link I will post a short excerpt from it for everyone: Taupin was inspired to write the lyrics after hearing the phrase "candle in the wind" used by Clive Davis in tribute to Janis Joplin: "I just kept hearing this term [and] I thought, what a great way of describing someone’s life".[3]

I still think Taupin must have researched her for his writing, the line about young men’s dreams etc.. I think we both may be correct. However I defer to your link as the final answer 👏

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Death comes for us all, ‘vanilla tears’ fall only for a rare few. Great poem.

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Bukowski wrote thousands of poems - many of them rubbish - but this, thankfully, is one of the good ones, and a nice tribute to Marilyn.

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Marilyn Monroe was hot! 🌶️

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I was 7 that summer and I remember my older sister and her friend whispering about her death, saying she was naked and an expression new to me, "commited suicide". I sensed without fully understanding that there was something very shameful about how she had died. Only much later did I understand the tragedy of her life.

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A poem that is sensitive and raw at the same time. As only Bukowsky could write

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Mythical Marilyn

reads the Motion Picture Weekly.

Timeless and obscure,

captured for eternity,

but in that moment secure.

She is effortless but present;

beautiful and iridescent.

She cannot be-in time,

or out of it, she’s just ‘forever’ -

a brittle star from the heavens.

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Ooof. This one just tears my spleen open. "This happens to elephants and tyrants...."

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Charles B was amazing. ! Beautiful writing for Marylin

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AMY AGONISTES Aman BLOOM, 2024

innocent but alarming

slightly shy, subtly charming

barely sizzling timely talent

lauded and applauded

fostered on drugs and drink

her flame spreads her fame.

he bursts her bubble,

she struts her trouble

wailing at a weeping wall

daily busts the wound

back to, back to…

Cleopatra of the blues

let loose and lost

tats and tits, lips and hips

launched a thousand ships

nervous picking at her slip

forsaking those trick lines

Died a hundred and one times.

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While I am not entirely a CB fan, I love this tribute to MM who along w/ Mickey Mantle embodied our 50's zeitgeist.

OPD

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I read this and 'for the touts, the nuns, the grocery clerks, and you' in my speech class at Jr. College when I went back to school a couple of decades after dropping out. The kids were bored but the teacher dug it.

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CB the Great......

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I raise a glass of wine to the Buk

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Elegant poem matching her presance.

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Love him he is one of my favorite poets🤍🙏🏼she is an icon

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So clever. Beautiful tribute.

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