Poem no 16: Philip Marlowe

To most folks, I’m quite some combination;
Mallory or Marlowe – take your pick.
I worked for the DA once but then he chose to let me go.
Now I’m a full-time private dick.
Men have a tendency to look at me up and down and sigh;
Women just stare – then walk away.
I’m sometimes available for poetic dialogues
But chess? No thanks. In my book that’s a solitary play.
I take my coffee with cream in the mornings.
It’s black as tar every other time.
If you’re partial to some whisky or some brandy
Something tells me we’ll get along just fine.
I often take the measure of loneliness
on empty city streets or long dark nights;
At other times I’m chasing hoodlums
Or muscling in on petty bar-room fights.
I’m not quite sure what age I am
Anything from 38 to 42.
But if you’re looking for a tough guy with a heart of gold
Then I might be the right one for you…

4 thoughts on “Poem no 16: Philip Marlowe

  1. I love noir, so this was right up my alley. I hope, then, you won’t take offense at one small suggestion: I think women look Marlowe up and down and sigh, men stare and walk away. Sighing isn’t alpha male, and the men Marlowe runs up against. I really liked: “I often take the measure of loneliness on/ empty city streets or long dark nights…”

    1. Mel – that’s a brilliant suggestion and I’m not going to take offence in the least – thank you!
      I love Marlowe – that sense of a man standing by his solitary chess set of an evening, looking out on the dark and lonely streets of the city? It gets me every time!

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