Sonnet 55: Ode to Robert Mitchum*
by Francine DuBois
Shall I compare thee to dear Steve McQueen?
Thou hath more swagger; thou art more flirty.
Your bedroom eyes beckon through every scene;
Your thoughts remain always a bit dirty.
And while you're not (sigh) ice blue steely-eyed,
You don't drive Mustangs through hilly Frisco,
You just don't care. You smirk, your shoulders wide,
Your hair slicked back with a can of Crisco.
What you have that Steve never did: a voice,
That clarion baritone echoes still.
Steve looked cool, no doubt, but given a choice,
I'll take Robert Mitchum home from the hill.
She can have her Steve McQueen: that's fine.
She'll go her way; Bob and I will go mine.
*Effective 1938-1964.
***
Based on William's Shakespeare's "Sonnet 55:
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=915
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