Posts: 751
Threads: 408
Joined: May 2014
Let's Pretend it's April - Nov. 25
Rules: Write a poem for LPiA on the topic or form described. Each poem should appear as a New Reply to this thread. The goal is to, at the end of the month, have written 30 poems for the month of November. (or one, or six, or fifteen) Prompts may be revisited at any time. All members are welcome.
Topic : Write a poem inspired by a favorite movie (or Play)
Form : Any
Line requirements: 8 or more
Feel free to reply with comments or kudos as you wish.
Questions?
Posts: 894
Threads: 176
Joined: Jan 2021
When In Doubt; a Short Film
(for Tiger)
A sparse tenement room.
On a rickety kitchen table, a baggie
filled with 16 month old cannabis.
John from Cincinnati sees it for the first time.
There’s no rolling papers.
He reaches for a bible printed on India paper,
tears out a page from the psalms,
hunts for a pair of scissors.
He cuts a careful square out of a Psalm,
gives it a few longitudinal creases,
begins to roll the paper between thumb and index finger
to wear it down, crush the straightness out of it
till it forms a curved surface.
He pulls out a few fragrant buds
(no grinder either) and begins to crush and cut
with extra long thumbnails, the buds into
tiny and tinier fragments of sticky green bits.
He spreads the fragments along the gutter
of the makeshift rolling paper, presses it down
into the groove, and begins a quick, profession roll
of paper and plant matter into a torpedo shape.
Crinkling each end a bit, like a sword swallower
it goes into his mouth to come out again slicked
with saliva, sealed and ready to dry.
Now, the wait. Junkies are always waiting.
Camera moves in for a close-up
of the words readable along the top of the reefer:
“Let my prayer be set forth before thee…”
Posts: 1,185
Threads: 250
Joined: Nov 2015
For All Seasons
It was a time of tumult
1966 (and 1529 as well)
the draft was blowing hard
and Bolt’s play, gorgeous
in cinematic images and prose
illuminated much.
(Still does.)
What actors in supporting roles!
Shaw showing what he could do as the shark
McKern what Rumpole becomes in power
and Hurt what Winston gains and loses
by joining the Inner Party.
Much like the seasons
from my sophomoric days
to doubtful retired comfort
and the prisoners of conscience
from when a despot king
who wished to change his woman
locked up for years
a great dissenter to iniquity
until today our despot swampy uniparty
who wished to change its president
locks up for years some hundreds
for shaming its great fraud.
All seasons, but they turn
and, turning, change–
but do they change enough?
Non-practicing atheist
Posts: 22
Threads: 0
Joined: Nov 2023
A Favorite Movie
a found poem*
He always carries a hand grenade—
so, I like him how he is.
And, how is he?
Dangerous—but sincere.
Sincerely dangerous.
Look, no one dies of a heart attack.
They die of disgust.
Like Iggy said, "death doesn't kill you.
Boredom and indifference kill you".
Do you have emotional problems?
It's impossible! But I wonder,
does he trust me?
Do you trust him, first?
*Most of the lines (not always entirely verbatim) are from Trust by Hal Hartley, rearranged (somewhat). It was difficult to know how to approach the prompt, as great art tends to speak for itself. So, I let it speak for me, instead.
Posts: 751
Threads: 408
Joined: May 2014
"Bitch Tits"
a former bodybuilder
and steroid gobbler
gets cancer of the nuts
he has them chopped
and the resulting hormonal mayhem
bears him a yoke of a moniker
his name is Robert Paulson
he's buried out back of the Paper Street House.
