If Marilyn Monroe Had Lived Today and Used 23andMe
She wanted to know if any other Monroe had sunk like a stone
when times got tough and was buried under the weight of time
constraints and lines to memorize, and comparisons to actresses
with slimmer thighs—was it in the genes, to crumble and ache?
Her last name was Baker (at least for a while) so was it baked,
inherited, encoded in her skin; so sensitive and ruddy, so easily dismissed?
Were these things traits, or a very special hell, reserved just for her?
Impossible to tell, really. Like the curve of her lips; width of "birthing" hips—
which she had never done, not even once—perhaps that was why
she just had to try to stumble upon some lost sibling—a real chromosomal
find!—but even if not, then a fourth cousin would do, and she would run
through the grass kicking off her shoes, while at last, a loved one
with arms open-wide, shouted "Norma! Norma! Is it really you?"
