The Last Visit, by Brian Beatty

The Last Visit

In Len Steckler’s 1961
photos of the last visit
of Carl Sandburg
and Marilyn Monroe,
 
taken less than a year
before her death,
they’re drinking 
champagne.
 
The young actress appears 
smitten with the old poet
holding the acoustic guitar 
and he, no doubt, knows it. 
 
In the shot of them 
posed with books lifted 
above their heads, 
what you notice at first glance
 
is their matching platinum hair, 
also the colour of champagne,
then how she stands 
barefoot in the doorway.
 
Brian Beatty
 
Brian Beatty has published the poetry collections Borrowed Trouble, Dust and Stars: Miniatures (Cholla Needles Press, 2019 and 2018), Brazil, Indiana: A Folk Poem (Kelsay Books, 2017) and Coyotes I Couldn't See (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2016). He lives in St. Paul, MN.