Bettie Page.....Tragedienne

[saw]

dad traded dimes
for her silence, touched her
in the wrong places
on her ninth birthday.

Bettie watched cowboy movies
with the hush money,
tried to forget.....
left the college of the bible
for the cheap backdrops
of the Klaw.
Irving took the shots,
the queen of the pin-ups,
queen of the curves....

everyman's fantasy....

harem girl, jungle girl,
kitten with a whip,
innocent child, country girl,
sultry mistress....

so many parts to play
blazing the trail, sizzling
role model with the sexy
black bangs....

put the bomb in bombshell,
oh star of Teaserama ..and
Material Girl Madonna
stole her conical braziere.

time was unkind,
demons of the past
rose to the surface,
she fought to remain
with all her might, but
Bettie's Clown Dance
disintegrated....
into violent obsession.

God tells her to stab
her landlady....
Hialeah mugshots
Asylum walls.

[constantine]

excellent.

[mtmynd]

interesting, saw. however your ending is not her ending. i guess you know that..?

[Lightning Rod]

sad, bleak, effective

[saw]

thanx dino, Lrod...mtmynd......mtmynd, the poem is only a portion of her life, up until the stabbing incident in Hialeah Fla.....Bettie had many stays in mental hospitals, the last one from 1983- 1992 in Patton State
Hospital in Highland, California....she is still alive and has some legal help trying to recover royalties for her that she is due.

[Doreen Peri]

i said it before and i'll say it again.... i've been a fan since day one.

Hope next time we do the Baltimore scene, you get up and read.

[mtmynd]

Thx, saw. Yr ending just seemed so final to me. It did fit into the overall essence to do so... but (nothing).

I do like the piece... very much.

[saw]

thanx doreen...yea I hope we can hook that up

[Arcadia]

well... I had to google her... no idea!!!



I saw a little video with her in it, really funny!!!. I looked like a sexy yoga class!!!! she was really elastic!!!!!!

the sex icon here during the fifties, sixties and early seventies was Isabel (Coca) Sarli. I saw part of his films in Canal Volver in cable tv some time ago. Really bizarre ones!!!!!. But most men-population here liked her (my sicilian grandparent included, in second place after Gina Lolobrigida, of course! -in his own words- ). Here´s a note plus blog about her (now somehow recluded/reclused? according to it):

http://weblogs.clarin.com/metronautas/a ... ble_1.html

[saw]

thanx Arcadia for the Sarli stuff...interesting...and I too had a
Sicilian grandparent.....your sketch?...if so...well done....