Unexpected Poets

Marilyn monroe said, “i used to write poetry sometimes, but usually I was depressed. The few I showed it to (in fact two people) said that it depressed them. One of them cried, an old friend I'd known for a long time.” A friend of Marilyn's, the late Norman Rosten, who transcribed many of her poems, said, “She would often hand me a scrap of paper with something written on it and ask, ‘Do you think this is poetry? Keep it and let me know.’” The poems were, in the best sense, those of an amateur; that is, they pretended to be nothing more than an outburst of feeling, with little or no knowledge of craft. But the poet within her—and one existed—found a form for her purpose. As is often the case with poetry, it is a kind of therapy, and what came from these imperfect scribblings must have surprised her. Her poems, so personal, read like a confession and provide a glimpse into her vulnerability.