#MIDDLEBURY
The afterlife of fame
David Trinidad
is dark
a neglected mansion
with vanishing court
rats in the empty pool
and antiquated actress
languishing
as ghost of her famous self
flickers in the projector’s beam
or framed in silver
haunts every room
Face unrecognizable?
Name forgotten?
O float me to Oblivion
in my swan bed
with my bandaged wrists
and doors shorn of locks
with swirl of my cigarette smoke
and glitter of my jewels
and silent flutter
of my weightless tulle
About this poem
“I wrote ‘The afterlife of fame’ after rewatching the 1950 movie ‘Sunset Boulevard.’ On this viewing, Norma Desmond seemed less of a monster; I had compassion for her as a victim of the impermanence of fame. I was also reading a lot of Emily Dickinson: ‘The World, will have its own-to do- / The Dust, will vex your Fame.'” – David Trinidad
About David Trinidad
David Trinidad is the author of “Notes on a Past Life” (BlazeVOX [books], 2016). He teaches at Columbia College Chicago.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
(c) 2016 David Trinidad. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
