Marilyn swims at Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva Resort one week before her death
by Gayle Brandeis
Marilyn swims back and forth, the pool
half in California, half in Nevada; she swims
over the border again and again, her body
sometimes half in one state, half in another,
swimming back in forth in all that blue
the way she swims between his eyes,
Ol’ Blue Eyes, one in one state,
one in another, adoration
and get-the-hell-out-of-my-resort,
she swims back and forth; she knows
people are watching, the movie star
in her bathing suit, she knows people are taking
pictures, but she doesn’t care, she’s not
wearing her bathing suit for them, not anymore,
she’s swimming back and forth, holding
her breath underwater as long as she can,
back and forth, back and forth, one state,
then another, one state, then another, water,
then air, above, then below,
her famous body crossing
border after border
after border
half in California, half in Nevada; she swims
over the border again and again, her body
sometimes half in one state, half in another,
swimming back in forth in all that blue
the way she swims between his eyes,
Ol’ Blue Eyes, one in one state,
one in another, adoration
and get-the-hell-out-of-my-resort,
she swims back and forth; she knows
people are watching, the movie star
in her bathing suit, she knows people are taking
pictures, but she doesn’t care, she’s not
wearing her bathing suit for them, not anymore,
she’s swimming back and forth, holding
her breath underwater as long as she can,
back and forth, back and forth, one state,
then another, one state, then another, water,
then air, above, then below,
her famous body crossing
border after border
after border