Friday, October 3, 2008

19. OLD MOVIES AND YOUR SLIP IS SHOWING

OLD MOVIES AND YOUR SLIP IS SHOWING
They characterized the dramatic moment by drowning
it in portentous music; the cheap means of emotion
used in cheap manner. That may have passed, once,
as the right thing to do, but it doesn't mean a thing in
this real world now at all.
Stovepipe hats like the Ministers wore.
Old steel grates over fireplace boards.
The limping butler chasing the ghost 'round
the corner mantelpiece. It's all so silly actually.
For now people speak with two mouths and they
hunch over from the burden of all that electric guilt,
the bend of want and possessions, the easy camp
of money. I wouldn't know a why from a when, myself:
Courthouse steps where criminals walk, the padded cells
where the judges are kept, the running water beneath
Mrs. Pie's skirts. Let's face it, the whole world has come
down to one thing now : the ABSURDITY that is both
yours and mine. We sling dice with the cosmos, hoping the
wrong star won't hit the right angle. We dress the charnel-house
in the selfsame ribbons the schoolhouse wears, and the teachers
bend over for more. Love is in the air - we might as well frolic
in it as long as we can.

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