The Projectionist
       

Is it pathetic to see the insides outside?
Matthew Arnold thought the sea was sad,
then he realized it was him.

I don't know how the world works,
how a friend becomes a stranger,
what a murder looks like on the face,

a hurricane. Brush lightly as you pass.
Sometimes an age just ends.
A monarch dies somewhere,

an angel gets his wings.
There are 1,649 shades of gray.
All you can do is keep your pathways clear.

Life happens. Celluloid culture
becomes cellular culture.
Anita Hill's college students

didn't know who she was.
We all get ahead on someone else's pain.
Once you start rewinding,

you have to go back to the beginning.
Everything we touch becomes infected.
I won't end like that. No rosebud,

no I don't give a damn, no lovers on the beach.
Dial it back to Paul Henreid in a white dinner jacket.
It's good to feel generous.

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Copyright © 2014 James Cihlar All rights reserved
from Rancho Nostalgia
Dream Horse Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission