Things I Know About Sharon Tate

I am too young to know Sharon Tate,

Lithe Persephone, burning bright

Living on the cusp of a fiery LA sun

Chasing too-bright lights,

Dancing barefoot in halls of Playboy and Rockefeller

I will be older than Sharon Tate-

Just 27, I feel age closing jaws

But I see- I know,

How Sharon felt young-

Her life ended, senseless

Her future cut by tenuous horror

I’ve seen no movies by Sharon Tate

Not the real actress- but her icon

Hollywood worship

Madonna martyred,

Covered in red, a womb her loss

Printed and sold as pornographic tragedy

I wonder about Sharon Tate

A career at fingertip’s edge,

Hope on her palms

Name enterally twined,

With the man who outlived her,

All admirers and idolatry from behind cell doors

I hope Sharon Tate might still dance barefoot,

Haunting her LA sunbeams, those cells doors

Knowing her legacy,

Her dreams- like so many women before,

Were buried in America’s love,

Of violent, clever men