Mickey Corrigan

Dashiell Hammett, Private Detective

The whippet-thin redhead
rolled his own cigarettes
at his black Underwood
typing up stories, smoking
coughing up blood
from the Army Ambulance Corps
from the Spanish flu, TB
a lunger for life
weakened, too ill
for the mean streets
the Pinkertons job
detective work in San Francisco
a port town of wine flats
speakeasies and whores
fog in the hills, ferry horns
mournful and haunting.

Stuck behind a desk
he took classes in typing
studied detective magazines
discovered an audience
for his authentic voice
for his deadpan dialogue
his gamey street parlance
the rough lowdown glamour
the stark charm of an ultra-
masculine sleuth, tough
sordid, unafraid
of violence, hiding
a romantic heart—
the urban hero myth
and a brand-new genre:
authentic hard-boiled crime.

Eight years of productivity
ninety stories in print
five novels in paperback
plus films and sequels
comic strips, radio shows
he went east in search
of solitude, freedom
between coasts and lives:
Manhattan with lovers
L.A. with family
a wife and two girls.

His daughters got postcards
clothes, gifts, short visits
a penthouse at the Wilshire
a suite at the Plaza
lunch with Dorothy Parker
dinner with movie stars
bedtime stories and feeling
the dent in Daddy's head
hit with a brick
after bungling a tail job
and the bulge in one hand
the knife tip still there
embedded in his palm.

The Wives of Norman Mailer

You can become a different man
in each marriage.

Beatrice a blind date
foul-mouthed Boston girl
introduced Mailer
to Marxism, politics
he gave her a tin ring
he bought for 25 cents.

First novel a bestseller
they lived in Paris
moved to Hollywood
had a daughter
lived in Provincetown
a farmhouse in Vermont

until he met Adele Morales
promiscuous, polyamorous
he hit her, beatings
after a bottle of bourbon
daily weed, tranquilizers
hosting a fundraiser
a run for mayor
inviting criminals, bums
and he stormed in the room
and stabbed his wife twice
in the back, chest
close to the heart

she lived but did not
press charges, thought
that's what it costs
to be married
to a genius
without guilt
so Adele stayed

until he met Lady Jeanne
a conservative heiress
a one-year wife
I like to marry women
whom I can beat
once in a while,
and who fight back.

until Beverly Bentley
picked him up and
took him home
they had two sons
they had a big house
on the beach in Ptown
for his six kids to spend
summers on the Cape

until she left him
sleeping with a jazz singer
mother of his seventh child
he bought them a house
in western Mass, visiting
through all three marriages

another mistress in LA
a secret love, many lovers
through all six marriages
even his last, beautiful
Norris just 26 to his 52
wed for 30-plus years
of affairs, drunks, fights
two more sons and

they all lived together
in a New York brownstone
in a house in Provincetown
one big happy family
unhappy in the Mailer way.

The Cheever Story

Living in Manhattan
in a tall apartment building
all the well-heeled husbands
in the morning elevator
on the way to their offices
in Brooks Brothers suits
button-downs, polished shoes
gray felt hats, dapper
riding down to the lobby
they hurried off to jobs
he to the basement
windowless storage room
stripped to his boxers
at a folding table
writing stories
for The New Yorker.

Married with a daughter
he published his stories
trying to make a living
running from his heritage
father dead from booze
grandfather too
brother a bad drunk
the family curse.

He soaked himself in drink
yearning to be illustrious
yearning for something else
passing through life
in a browned-out fog
while every comely man,
every bank clerk and delivery boy
was aimed at my life
like a loaded pistol.

The Curious Case of Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

Celebrated in his 20s
forgotten in his 30s
dead by 44 he lived
his life backward
like the character
in his popular story

one of 164 published
stories and novels written
with style, wit, imagination
on themes of love, success
and failure to achieve
the illusive American Dream.

A Midwesterner
half black Irish and
half old American stock
his mother nervous, odd
his father drinking, jobs
businesses gone bust
Scott a poor student
in private schools
among the elite
always the outsider
looking in, wanting in
and resenting the rich.

He grew up with
a two-cylinder
inferiority complex…
Mr. Nobody from Nowhere
charming, endearing
a good friend to many
a victim to his insecurity
alcoholism, depression, debt

self-destructive he flamed out
twenty years before he died.

 

Originally from Boston, Mickey J. Corrigan hides out in the lush ruins of South Florida. She writes pulp fiction, literary crime, and psychological thrillers. Salt Publishing in the UK released Project XX, a satirical novel about a school shooting. Bloodhound Books UK published What I Did For Love, a spoof of the classic Lolita. Her poetry has been published in literary journals, chapbooks, and collections.