DC PLACES ISSUE Karren LaLonde Alenier AGAINST THE WALL For Norma Jean, Marilyn or S At Calvert and Connecticut she watches. All I remember is her face larger than a window flung open in spring that face floating above brick, mortar, and cement. Her bleached hair expands the white of her eyes, eyes that steal light from the passerby. Rumor says she shared lipstick with my mother as they strolled arm in arm down a runway lined with impatient men, each holding out his will. At Calvert and Connecticut she beckons, what will you do, she whispers with petulant lips. Mom, I shout from a café where drinking wine with a friend I glimpse the beauty pageant, of pliant skin and curving body receding down the avenue. With a playful skip, she remains a child, that child, Arthur Miller says, whose spirit we cannot chase, best to rest in place and let her return with love. At Calvert and Connecticut I'll see her there, up against that wall.     Karren LaLonde Alenier is author of five collections of poetry, including Looking for Divine Transportation (The Bunny and the Crocodile Press), winner of the 2002 Towson University Prize for Literature. Her poetry and fiction have been published in such magazines as: the Mississippi Review, Jewish Currents, and Poet Lore. Gertrude Stein Invents a Jump Early On, her opera with composer William Banfield and Encompass New Opera Theatre artistic director Nancy Rhodes, premiered in New York City in June 2005. Published in Volume 7, Number 3, Summer 2006.   To read more by this author: Karren Lalonde Alenier Alenier's Tribute to Archibald MacLeish: The Memorial Issue Karren L. Alenier: Audio Issue