Paula and the Peacock
Like Jay Gatsby (born Gatz), Paula Broadwell
(born Krantz), an upwardly mobile Dakotan,
raced to the tiptop and tragically fell
for a peacock, for a military man
whose colorful medals cast quite a spell.
Her narcissistic Daisy Buchanan,
her rapidly racing heartthrob from hell,
her jogging partner in Afghanistan
she loved him not wisely, but too well.
Life for her became a marathon
that she ran like a bat out of hell,
from North Dakota to the Pentagon.
Like Jay Gatz, Paula Kranz got nowhere fast:
Love-sick gals, like love-sick guys, finish last.
Robert Forrey, 2012
