Monday, November 12, 2007

Pretty Little Ending--Eric Bachman and Singleton, '07

A pretty little ending,
all wrapped up tight;
sugar-coated candies
in a movie theatre box.

The credits roll by--
The End spelled out
in unmistakable font,
everyone's going home.

Confetti dust and rays
of a lost sun flickering,
floating in bright chaos,
their shadows play tag
on a dirty silver screen--
And suddenly I remember...

It wasn't all that great;
I just wanted it to be.

14 comments:

singleton said...

My hands are digging
deeper
salt
and butter wrapped
one right after the other
silver clouds
swallowed whole
the story
as you
told it,
and my knees are getting
weak
I tuck my feet in underneath
lean closer to the screen
squint to read the credits....

An empty paper cup
tossed tossed by
Friday night laughter....
a paper plane crashing into
my blonde hair backwards
into my B rated fix on things
exposes
the punch line

the final line

the one the
"excuse me"
ticket holders missed....
sideways dancing past me...

racing up the ramp
to the exit sign..
into the light...

KarmaLennon said...

Oooohhhh, I love love love it. How our minds make us remember in sort of sepia colored, romantic tones what was until reality hits again with the "Oh yeah....it needed to be through..." Great job!

singleton said...

karma....clink!

singleton said...

scrunched in the velveteen
seat
knees to my chin
I hide

waiting on the
hoo-hah's
and matinee dates
and "it's not my week-end"-ers
to trapse up
the burgandy carpeted
ramp

and the reel-man,
the shadow in the box
above the last row,
to hit re-wind
to the almost empty theatre
just to watch me
watching

Fourteen minutes into it
I see
you and me
and feel
the popcorn,
soggy firecrackers,
under my feet
and look up
to tell him thank you,
peace....,
but
he's asleep
standing up....
He knows the ending by heart

And he's bored with my discovery....

Princess Pointful said...

Wow... unexpected ending.
The end can be just as delicious as the process, if not more so.

eric1313 said...

That's the Singleton effect, she wrote this one a few poems back.

All I did was add a stanza in the middle and play with thw rhythm. It was easy.

singleton said...

Princess....And isn't the wonderful thing about endings that no matter how black and white they are at the time, our memories manage them perfectly....
magically
they metamorphis into
the story we can best live with now?

Peace and happy endings...

Eric....Silly poet, that's what makes you The Mighty Bartender! Whipping up delicious concotions from whatever is behind the bar!
And breaking all the house rules by draggin' in potions and spells to magic up the mix!

Crashtest Comic said...

I just reuinted my atman with my brahman--

& all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

singleton said...

crashtest.....
Well, wow, I love T-shirts! :)

singleton said...

I wore platform shoes
and that dress
never hung in my closet,
never draped across my bed in a
Friday night fit of "what to wear"....
that smile
viral
lipsticky
can't get enough,
and
danced.....

it was just a
rain-check
maybe next time
pretendy
kind of dream

But you smiled back
and everyone
fed the jukebox quarters
and tipped it dollar bills
because they were in on
the dream
and from
their
barstools
they
werent afraid
to feed it

singleton said...

There were beer bottle rings
wet orbs
on the counter top
and that was
enough...

I knew you had been there
thirsty
gathering quarters
to make a bed for your cigarettes
on the nightstand

I ran my fingers through
the wet crop circles,
swelling on the mahogony,
and painted
a peace sign....
just in case you stopped by later...

so you would know I was
here,
and I was thirsty....

I took my quarters home to make wind chimes,
but you knew that,
didn't you?

Sandy Kessler said...

sure have been there...

eric1313 said...

Sandy

We've all know of stories.

Some of them we wish would never end.

Others... We can't through enough mike&ikes at the screen until it is over...

Glad to see you here, friend.

Anonymous said...

You write very well.