Interview by Diana Clarke

Poet and psychologist Cheryl Maddalena placed herself across the historical divide from Marilyn Monroe and called it a mirror. Read her poem, “Marilyn,” in the May issue, then decide who Norma Jean really is.

1. Marilyn Monroe (or at least her pop-cultural image) is so ubiquitous. How did you find yourself ready to take on that cultural weight and make it new?

I wrote this poem some time ago, when I was taking a linguistics class. Apparently, as related by my two professors, in linguistics school the students would passionately argue in the hallways about the which would be more correct: “I dreamed I was Marilyn Monroe, and I kissed me,” or “I dreamed I was Marilyn Monroe, and I kissed myself.” Obviously I felt strongly about the first choice! And I also realized that in my professors’ version, students were imagining being kissed by Marilyn Monroe – completely different from my experience of the idea, which was of two Marilyns.

2. I loved your incorporation of the autoerotic (“while under the table/I kept squeezing/my adorable knee. I simply couldn’t keep my hands/off me”). How does the speaker (and maybe, if you feel like broaching it, the poet) relate to Marilyn as an symbol of desirable femininity? Continue reading →