Everyone knows Ed McMahon and Betty Davis
were son and daughter of Lowell — before
they traipsed the path to Hollywood and fame

Betty didn’t even bother to stay in Lowell
long enough to graduate from Lowell High
or  attend the college there.  Perhaps she hated
being from Lowell — perhaps she didn’t care at all?

Ed stuck around a bit longer, and even came back
to visit his aunt. Whether he loved Lowell or not
he loved his family — perhaps that is enough.

For decades, the two of them stayed
in Hollywood for the sake of career — and maybe
love. Love would be enough, I think,
but Love in Hollywood isn’t so real as there
in Lowell. It’s a plastic bauble that bends and breaks
to be quickly disposed of and forgotten.

Love in Lowell, that’s a courser object
made of heavier things — the weight of family
and history, the rusted scuffed up finish
that weakens the body but leaves the piece
more beautiful. I wonder how Betty and Ed
could be happy in a place where love means so little.

I suppose it doesn’t matter now, seeing as they’re dead.