THE PIANIST (2002)
the baby grand in the living room
under the coat of arms
and cedar roof beams
what’s to become of us?
sold for gold teeth, a cracked spyglass,
back alley blitzkrieg and
Argentinian cucarachas
what’s become of us?
you gotta be a prodigy to survive and even then, sticky fingers prevail
ROCKY (1976)
my dad had the score on 8-track
in the console of his ragtop Cadillac
as we tooled up to the City
to visit grandpa at the old-age home
which smelled of disease and disinfectant.
very much triumphantly
the unofficial soundtrack
for the Bicentennial yelled
“Yo Adrienne!”
which is also my mother’s name.
I never
signed up
for that
and never saw my grandpa again.
THE RING (2002)
That little girl
scared the shit out of me.
I gnash my teeth,
bite my tongue unconsciously;
sometimes I flagellate myself
to sleep.
But never-gone the haunting terror,
the killer pounding at the door
or that girl
long black wet hair plastered to her face
coming fast at you
defying the screen
like the blur of a hot knife
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
maybe he was innocent
until he was convicted.
then the requisite sodomy,
now we feel his shame.
still, white privilege reigns.
give me suicide,
Mozart unearthed,
a poster of Raquel Welch
on the cell wall,
a spat of solitary,
some bribery;
but above all,
white privilege.
betrayal, threats,
more solitary.
the trip to Zihautanejo measured
by a
length of rope,
the treasure buried beneath
the lightning-bolt tree;
unadulterated proof washed in
a river of shit,
storm and rain,
inevitable escape,
cinematic crescendo,
and in the end, what prevails?
white privilege.
under different circumstances
the ending of
Trading Places
is an obvious comparison.
there’s a point to it:
one man’s tragedy
is another man’s comedy
especially under the auspices of
white privilege.
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
she was skinny
olive skinned
and her face looked
like something carved
into an ancient
sarcophagus
the kitchen manager said
stay away from that one
she’s trouble
why should I listen to you?
I know her, man. I used to date her best friend
well fuck that, I said
I gave her a nickname
the Dead Girl
then suddenly I was the bad guy
even after
she let me
into her basement
apartment
and into her holiest of…
how great was it
under the poster of Travis Bickle
mohawk and all
she wanted to
videotape us having sex
but it never got that far
she liked to pick fights
she owned a
’64 Ford Ranchero
in mint condition which she never let me drive
The Cineaste: (100 Movies): Passer, Jay, Buddha, Alien: 9798744698218: Amazon.com: Books
