Hollywood Morgue


Down below in the Hollywood
morgue: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Swanson, Peter Lorre
former stars of the movie metropolis
denizens of a lights-out necropolis;

Greta Garbo, still very much alone
in her private tomb,
fat boys Orson Welles and Charles Laughton
in their own moribund Mausoleum;
there is a touch of evil about the cinemorgue:

Moans and groans at night,
lines from old motion pictures, play it, Sam,
frankly, my dear!
Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and the Hammer team,
luscious vampires, ghastly queens!

All the Carradines lie mouldering, David
hanging like a bat

keep loving the old movie stars,
bring a bottle of wine, Chateau Fin
and celebrate the end of the party.