From College To Cinema

Shot, Died, And Buried
(For Jacqueline L., who saw that movie with me for 3 minutes)

This is the way heroes
come to an end,
not...

A stab at glory
is dangerous to your health.
Fool people to be brave with you.
No meal is free.
Shoot in the dark,
hit Anonymous.
Unshackle chains
for the price of lead.
Believe the man;
power and flowers
are twin daughters
of the same mother
: the trigger finger.

Every story must be told.
No life is unimportant,
no life is boring.
You don't get to being dead
without being alive.
No shortcuts.
Lazy as lazy comes, one takes it.
No second acts.
The stage is the best.
The telling should not be wasted.
You don't get to hear
the director shout “cut!”
What you see
are what memories are for.
And no life could be so short
as to fit into an hour and a quarter movie.
Shot, dead, and buried
in an unmarked grave.


A Love Song After Shade No.22 or Lana's Aria

The woman has a smile like dusk receding,
pregnant with the guilt of rivers dying.
A flutter of butterfly wings, she cries.
Every sound becomes a faint goodbye.