Marilyn: Essays & Poems

This special Collector's Edition of Heidi Seaborn's astonishing second collection of poems, An Insomniac's Slumber Party with Marilyn Monroe is a middle-of-the-night poetic conversation with Marilyn Monroe that explores obsessions, addictions, abuse, objectification, marriage, work, children, childlessness and death. Pressing on the themes of her acclaimed debut, Give a Girl Chaos {see what she can do}, Seaborn illuminates the biographical and emotional journey of Marilyn as intimacies whispered between two women. These are women who have lived "on the glittering edge" and know that when a third husband "draws a blank page from his typewriter," it means she needs to go to work in a world dominated by men. In An Insomniac's Slumber Party with Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn is a resilient, intelligent feminist who understands how to accumulate and wield power in the 1950's. She is also vulnerable, exploited, and broken in so many ways. We see the speaker discover Marilyn until "then she is everywhere," a haunting presence that becomes both muse and reflection. Seaborn invites us into the poetic soul of the world's most famous woman with poems that celebrate and mourn. This Collector's Edition includes craft essays of writing about the American Icon, a eulogy from the author, and a Q + A about the writing process, as well as a sequined meditation on what keeps us up at night and what fills our dreams.