POEMS BY
ALLISON WHITTENBERG
The Vamp
her dark hair short,
confused, with Louise Brooks,
Lya de Putti, Hungarian born
silent era actress
danced and went nude, per request
studied English for the talkies transition
but died to Hollywood
long before that chicken bone
could be removed from her throat
the cruelty of a factory that lures
promising eternal sunshine
yet, slaps with a backhanded
compliment in Cabaret
and, a handful of bubbles,
glistening and gone.
Eaten
Hollywood Babylon brewed the myth
That’s digested without tasting truth
Malnourished due to how she drank
She drank to dull what the studios drained
Replaced in favor of younger ingenues
She had more art to give
If your capable of class, dream factory
Admit this: Marie Prevost was not “doggie’s dinner”
Her pet didn’t feed on her undiscovered corpse
He barked, howled, desperate for the world to see her
Canteen
I call my restaurant:
salt and butter
since that is all
anyone acknowledges as
they respond in
chest pains and
jouissance
Allison Whittenberg's novels are Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine, Life is Fine, and Tutored (Random House 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010). Her work has appeared in Columbia Review, Feminist Studies, J Journal, and New Orleans Review. She is the author of the full-length short story collection, Carnival of Reality (Loyola University Press, 2022). Whittenberg is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee.