Photograph


This is the way
you wanted to be remembered.

Elegant black dress,
sophisticated white pearls,
a radiant halo of hair,
blond as Marilyn Monroe's.
Contacts, green as hundred dollar bills,
that draw men to your eyes.
Perpetually tanned, too,
like a Fifties' movie star.
This photograph is more
head shot for Hollywood
than portrait for an obituary.

Sometimes we get the chance
to realize our dreams
before we lose touch with life.
We journey to Borneo,
purchase a Porsche,
or hang-glide off a cliff.
You prepared for death
by perfecting your image,
becoming your own press agent.
What were we to think,
when you handed us
the 8 x 10 color glossies?
All they were missing
was an autograph--
and any hint of cancer.

Despite your best orchestrations,
I will remember you
the way I have known you--
more Norma Jean than icon,
less distant, more mother.


Scott Wiggerman
-featured in tres di-verse-city