Waiting For Peg; Jaws At The Cinerama Dome by MR Mandell

Waiting for Peg

In 1932, actress Peg Entwistle leapt to her death from the H in the Hollywood sign

I swing my legs over the edge

of the Hollywood sign. My nightgown

is soaked, silk sticks to my skin.

It’s December. The rain has slowed.

Red and green lights trim the skyline,

L.A. its most beautiful in the dark.

I don’t know what brings me here, woke

to a whisper from her sweet English voice,

begging me to shimmy up the ladder, slink

over the Y, the Ls, and the O, to the H.

Instructions stop there, so I dangle alone,

waiting for her ghost to appear. Or as an angel,

perhaps. She could play either part. The way

she shined across the Barrymore stage,

how she kissed Bogart and dazzled

New York, even Parker called her a star.

I see her silhouette leaning against a tree,

talking herself out of her midnight fantasy,

prodding herself to tell another story.

Jaws at the Cinerama Dome

Gnawing popcorn

as the shark

eats the girl alive.

The ocean is still,

glossy

in the moonlight.

The boy is splayed out

on the beach,

sound asleep.