Plastic future
'One word',
the earnest guest
tells Dustin
in his Graduate role.
'Uh huh.'
Significant look.
'Plastics.'
Pregnant pause.
'Uh huh.'
Bewildered soul,
facing
shifting sands
grasps at
Ann Bancroft's
legs like straws
crossing and
uncrossing down
the years
anchoring us
in immature longings.
'Forgive me
if I don't
shake hands',
say our future
fathers in law
reminding us
of the
inconvenient truth
that loveless lives
can never be
the same
once they
blacken
and crumple
like celluloid
in a flame.
Psycho (the movie)
Slashing knife
slits shower curtain
blood spatters on walls
streaks in arterial bursts
washes down the drain
of no return.
Bloodcurdling screams
Marion is dead
she wasn’t untainted
but didn’t deserve
ultimate bloodletting.
Killer wearing a dress
cleans up the mess
disposes of the body.
Mother, you can watch!
But mother is
mummified corpse,
rocking in her chair
hidden in the attic.
Norman is permanently
trapped in Mother’s persona
split between mother and son.
Scene stays in my mind
source of nightmares
I couldn’t take shower
for over a month!
Twofer
Two I have that touched me
in ways I couldn't fathom
Neither is a favorite film
Scarred is the word for the first
"Parents" was its name
a plate piled high with barbecue ribs
I knew were human. . .
a boy forced to eat them--
I can never un-see that
or forget.
Inspiring is the second
"Say Anything"
A dictionary five inches thick
with most of the words highlighted
made it okay to have a good vocabulary
to enjoy words
to be smart.