the other day,
a major motion picture
(is there any other kind?)
coming soon
to a multi-plex near you.
I descended the stairs
at sunset; Mr. DeMille
was waiting, cameras
rolling: my closeup
whether I was ready
or not (I wasn’t; I hadn’t
learned my lines).
The director’s staff
was held up so
the camera crew
divided and parted,
waving.
I became a spectacle,
Cleo and Marc combined
to reign over
the greatest show
on earth.
This poem is submitted for One Shot Wednesday hosted by One Stop Poetry. To see other submitted poems, please visit the site. The links will be live at 4 p.m. Central time today.
11 comments:
I like how you begin this poem, by saying you "fell into a movie", and then introduce the stairs - and at sunset! - and the holding up of the crew. It's the show behind the show, and sometimes better than the one we see on screen. Nice one-shot!
I agree with Maureen, what a perfect opening line...pulls us right into the spectacle with you!
ha this was a lot of fun glynn...might not want to get so close to the tv that you fall in next time...smiles.
Agreed brillant opening Glynn that pulls the reader as it pulls you through the poem...and expecting it to end with elephants and trapeze artists...bkm
So intriguing. Was it a dream? One is left to wonder. Brilliant.
Dear Glynn
Its a very interesting verse... and slowly you were able to build up an interest in the whole going ons... Liked your last line...
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/03/whispers-seed-and-senseless-living.html
At Twitter @VerseEveryDay
I've not seen the film, Glynn. However, the poem is rich with imagination. To fall into a movie role and be faced immediately with close-up and no lines committed to memory certainly becomes a spectacle. Smooth how the reader transitions into suspending disbelief through just a few opening words. Very well written.
interesting how you managed the twist from beginning to end. Who is Cleo? hmmm
So many moments in life that we fall into have that cinematic feel--life mimics art instead of vice versa? Anyway, a nice little twisty piece, with you Cleopatra and her cohort all "major" in the action.
Glynn,
A great pull as the opening line. Much like a movie, you know exactly how to reel the reader in. I too have never seen the movies but such a descriptive experience makes me want to rent it and see. Thank you for sharing!
There are actually references to four Cecil B. DeMille moves here -- Sunset Boulevard (with that great staircase scene by Gloria Swanson); The Ten Commandments (Moses holding up the staff so the sea could part); Cleopatra; and The Greatest Show on Earth. I did have a lot of un with this one. Thanks for all the comments.
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