Hollywood Suicide: A Poem

A villanelle.

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She left behind the scent of her perfume,
  A summer flower in the frost of fall.
    It’s lonely in her quiet little room,

And so she leaves and wanders through the gloom
  To where the sign still stands: her outer wall.
    She left behind the scent of her perfume—

It’s dangerous, as if it could consume
  A human soul, past miseries and all.
    It’s lonely in her quiet little room,

Where no one comes to see her—all assume
  She’s resting now, a little broken doll.
    She left behind the scent of her perfume

To lead her back to where the letters loom
  Across the hill, a mocking, ragged scrawl.
    It’s lonely in her quiet little room,

Oppressed by roots, devoid of bud and bloom,
  Trapped in obscurity—and still the pall
    Of memories, of bitter old perfume—
    It’s lonely in her quiet little room.

Author’s Note

Back in the 1930s, an aspiring young actress named Peg Entwistle, despairing over her struggling career and her unhappy life, climbed to the top of the “H” in the “Hollywood” sign and jumped to her death. Over the years, various people have seen a strange, sad woman in old-fashioned clothing wandering the woods around the sign, and some have even reported the pungent scent of gardenias when the flowers were out of season. Gardenia was Peg’s favorite perfume scent.

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