Movies . Poems
Spring 2007
Speechless Goes to the
Movies
Reality without imagination is only
half of reality.
– Luis Buñuel
Film is its own country.
– Alfred
Hitchcock
After all, only Whitman and Crane
and Williams, of the American poets, are better than the movies.
– Frank
O'Hara
Guest Star - Beyond
Baroque Literary Arts Center
Introduction to Beyond Baroque by
Director Fred Dewey
Two mini-anthologies of movie poems from Beyond
Baroque Directors Amélie Frank and Richard Modiano
Inside the Movie Palace - Two Poems by
John Allman
Loew's Triboro
Eleanor
Losing It at the Movies - Three Memoirs
X-Rated
The Liberty Theater by
Daniel Jaffe
R-Rated Parental Guidance Strongly Suggested by
Damien Stednitz
PG-13-Rated Saturday Afternoons, Royal Theater by
Michelle Bitting Abrams
An Actor on Poetry
- Essay
by Hector Elizondo
The Obie- and Emmy-winning actor describes his love of the older (and poorer) art
In Praise of Supporting Players
- Two Poems
Strangled, Eventually by Beth Ruscio
About Beryl Mercer, Actress by
Michelle Bitting Abrams
Ear Candy - Essay by Bill Mohr on
a Maurice Jarre Score
A Triumphant
Elegy: The Film Music of Lawrence of Arabia
"Jarre’s score is what I carried in my head as I went to the local
library and asked for a copy of Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and it
was Jarre’s assemblage of percussion, strings, wind instruments and odd,
ethereal chimes that formed a chorus in my head to preface the opening
sentence of Chapter 1: 'Some of the evil of my tale may have been
inherent in our circumstances…'"
Two Poems
by Lawrence Raab
Why It Often Rains in the Movies
Attack of the Crab Monsters
À bout de souffle
The Skokie Theater
- Poem by Edward Hirsch
Festival of Shorts
She's Not Safe
- Short story by Larry Caldwell
She's just picked up a guy at a bowling alley, and—there's a
killer on the loose. But then, isn't there always? On nights like this
only one thing is certain: someone toilet-papered the favorite
avocado tree of a very important film director. And boy is he mad.
Take 5! Five Poets Take on the Movies
Wedding Day Blues
- Poem by
Cece Peri
Hommage à l'Age d'Or - Poem by Gail Wronsky
Angel Face -
Poem by Richard Garcia
Corkscrew Alley
- Poem by
Michael C Ford
Stage Money
- Poem by Sandra Hoben
Movies Quote Poetry—And Are All the Better for It
The Well-Versed Movie - Essay by Stacey Harwood
"Poems have been the means by which a filmmaker reveals a
character's state of mind, animates a plot, or introduces a movie's
overarching theme. The well-placed poem can intensify, illuminate, and
complicate the dramatic arc of a story."
Star Quality
Janet Leigh is afraid of jazz - Poem by
Marsha de la O
Max Factor
In praise of lipstick
- Poem by Terry Wolverton
Totally Nonfiction
Brando
and Me - by I. C. Rapoport
The international photojournalist and screenplay writer got off to a
bumpy start, fashion-wise. “You’re going to L.A. like that?” he
snickered. “You’re going to meet Brando like that? You look like street
bum. No one’ll take you seriously.”
"CRASH"! BANG!
Crashing Los Angeles
- Essay by Brett Myhren
"Underneath the histrionic confrontation, then, Crash is really an
urban social critique. In comparison to the norms of 'real' cities, the
film argues, Los Angeles is unconventional and misshapen, and that’s why
people who live there are terribly unhappy."
Four Defenses of Crash - Essay by
Suzanne Lummis
"Do all those who complain that the movie makes Los Angeles look
like 'a cauldron of racism,' or a 'boiling hotbed of racism' or a
molten, burbling, teapot of…etc., really believe the makers of Crash
set out to represent this city as one itchy little troubled spot
spoiling the otherwise pristine serenity of the earth?"
Valentine to the King of Darkness
The Man Who Knew Too Much
-
Poem by Tatsuya Iwakura
Poetry Goes to the Fights
(and Movies)
Actress and poet Beth Ruscio
reflects on acting, boxing and poetry.
"I come from actors, artists and vaudevillians. I act and write. So does
my Dad, Al. To us, everything is material. Take boxing...."
Steve Kowit's serialized essay "The Mystique of
the Difficult Poem" will resume in the next issue.
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