The Beautiful Mind of Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr superimposed on electrical diagram

 

The Beautiful Mind of Hedy Lamarr

Beauty is as mind doesn’t:
That’s how to look glamorous.
That’s how everyone saw
her, but not how she wanted
to be seen. Sometimes in life
I act more than on the screen.
After a day on set she
liked to go home and work
on inventions: “childish
ignorance” meets “definite
flashes of genius.” But the face
that launched a thousand
radio-controlled torpedoes
in the war was judged as
just the most beautiful face.
Six husbands & speed took
care of the rest. I know what
I did; I don’t care what anybody
else thinks. Even her plastic
surgery scars were visionary:
behind her ear, along the crease
of her knee, but she couldn’t
regain the iconic beauty
that defined her. Oh no, no
regrets. You learn from everything
all the time. Now she’s smart
in the phones in everybody’s
pockets, in secure wireless
networks the world over; now
she’s in the Hall of Inventors.
Also in a poem the tech words
look out of place, but she
never cared much for looks.

 

Inspired by Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017), written & directed by Alexandra Dean
Photo credit: https://planetconnections.org/2016-staged-readings/hedy-the-life-and-inventions-of-hedy-lamarr/