My English teacher said
Hemingway shot himself
because his best writing
lay behind him
A Farewell to Arms (the film)
rain-soaked showcase
for Gary Cooper’s facial expressions:
lovelorn
vulnerable
heroic
doomed
Helen Hayes’ besotted nurse
could be cloying
and isn’t
(Underappreciated in Hollywood
Hayes promptly returned
to Broadway)
In high school
teenage scorn:
how absurd she
talked about dying
in the rain
Ferguson (Mary Philips)
stern nurse
strives to keep the
star-crossed lovers
apart
impediment to romance
in the end she’s
right about everything
If the film is
romantic hokum
blame Hemingway who
hated the movie
Yet sung the praises of
Gary Cooper;
they became close
friends
Coop called him
Papa
In 1961 Cooper died
of cancer
Hemingway’s suicide
a month later
