Cab Ride
After Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth 1991

There are nights on earth when a cab ride is all it takes
to reveal the entire truth
about where we are going and at what speed

there are five stories for each lie we tell
and there are never enough names for us to slide into
not enough cities or streets to hide in
while the meter runs on and on
we journey past the horror of our loneliness
and into someone else's continent
someone else's version of the very same story
we've been telling each other for years

our lives move in sequence from one shot to the next
subtitled and more offensive than we would have liked
our blood is full of burden
the burden of drowning sheep.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Another Cowboy in Hamburg
After Wim Wenders' The American Friend 1977

Dennis Hopper walks into your shop
and wants to be your American friend
just like that
he takes you through your own streets
trying to convince you he's not just another cowboy
in a language you recall from your childhood
a language that occupied you for days
long after the gangsters had moved off the screen

Dennis Hopper steals your heart
on a night -train moving out of Hamburg
with murder on his breath
he dishes out plenty of suspense
slicks back his hair and repeats it all once more
just in case you weren't looking
it's his way of working the room

you want to be Dennis's friend
only it doesn't make sense
he's all pulp fiction
a hero in the making
imitating the way your lips move
trying on your past just for size

Dennis Hopper walks into your life
finds you driving around in circles
on a deserted beach
your hands covered in gold leaf
you ask him why
he wants to be your friend
he looks out at the ocean and says
"isn't that enough?"

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Perhan's Dream
After Emir Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies 1989

When the rooster crows
they will place a gold coin on each of his dead eyes
the sun will set before the dance is done
on the seventh day they will mourn him
with trumpets and flirting for the last time

Perhan's dream never ends
night after night the moon slips into his bed
filling his head with unimaginable stories of chaos
it is only when he wakes that Perhan stands on his own two feet
and looks at himself flying across the highways
humming a tiny gypsy song.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Sleeping with the Preacher
After Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter 1955

Preacher Harry Powell does god's work
down in the barn's where they found the last one
the sixth, maybe the twelfth, preacher can't recall
all's he knows is how to talk to god
and that there ain't but one word for what these women want
evil comes to him down by the river
he hunts down the night
and tattoos his fingers for the lord

love and hate come from the same exact place
flesh and blood
and there is no word for a child's fear
there is a body at the bottom of the river
blessed by the preacher
lying with the angels
singing hymns
hounded day and night by the hunter
sleeping with the preacher.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Confession
After Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull 1980

From the fifth row you can see blood coming off the rope
silence
then the flashbulbs
a glove-full of punishment
a left hook
fifteen rounds of rage
and the camera always stays in the ring with Jake

there are forces of evil that move him
into spheres of such great anger
that a bloody sponge is his only confession

Jake crushes the world
fights like he deserves to die
and beats on his wife
because she is exactly what he wants to be

for Jake there is no real enemy
no rehearsal
just his own heart stopping for a moment
as the lights come up
and he fall to his knees
silver trunks
and the eyes of an angel.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

The Postman
After Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva 1982

The Marx brothers storm the opera house
Jules is stealing the diva's voice
delivering her love letters from the street

homicide is carried out on mopeds
while the postman rewinds his tape
to a precise moment in time
where he can picture himself with her
under an umbrella tearing open letters from strangers
writing to tell him that they too carry her voice
in a satchel through the crowds

the postman walks with lovely girls but dreams of his diva
all dark and elaborate with ruthless thievery on her mind
stealing the vessel in which his heart once swam
she hits the highest note
collapses at his feet in her zen-coloured gown.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Long Distance
After Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now 1979

I can't believe I called you up in the middle of the night
long distance
to read you a poem
when I should have been telling you
about my journey to the midnight of the soul
in the front row of the movie theatre with my head craned back
and how after that there was nowhere else left to go
I should have been asking you about who really won the war
you would have steered me straight and maybe even out
of my darkest heart
into a place where the river would stop
and spread its corpse out to dry

weeks later I crawl out of bed and think of the metal horses
of war
and how we all create our own hell
then join up and kill whatever's left
whatever resembles ourselves
I pinpoint the source of my guilt
and it's not really that I called you up in the middle of some night
with poetry on my mind
it's that I know what it means to hate
and that I understand the horrific journey of our lives
and how it ends with mockery
and a heart full of the beast.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Huckleberry
After George P. Cosmatos' Tombstone 1993

Doc pours himself another round
feels the cool metal against his rib cage
fingers the trigger and the jig is up
Earp can't shoot even near as straight as he can piss
and Doc's his only hope
but Doc's got cards and whiskey so deep in his veins
that getting up out of those TB sheets some mornings
makes him wish Arizona was just a dream
but it's not that simple
Doc writes books on death and friendship
and tells Earp that some men need revenge
just for being born

dust fills his lungs
he loads his 12 gauge
and travels to a place where he can prove friendship
just with the tip of a hat
and a bullet
Doc fancies the dawn
and wakes to his own voice whispering
"I'm here huckleberry".

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Through the Cathedral
After Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate 1980

The gates of heaven open
onto a hundred crows lying in golden dust
smiling at our misfortunes

Wyoming combs its smoke-filled days
through our hair
the whistle sparks the giant heart of hope
our train pulls into a dream of the west
we once had while cradled in our mothers' sorrows

the tongue is a tool that shapes all the imaginings
of our childhood into a single word that catches
in the heart of every stranger that gives us the pistol

what a man can never trust is the land
or his secret heart
and what's left at the end of the day is this
a sky full of sheets blowing back and forth
reminding him of heaven and the saints
and a language he once carried
through a cathedral
full of men and women wearing his very skin.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Fan Mail
After Bertrand Blier's Too Beautiful For You 1989

Before you were born I used to get fan mail
in one letter it said that I had been spotted
at the cinema
I was seen sitting in the middle of the third row
on the coldest night of the year
he thought I may have been taking notes
analyzing the performance or writing love letters
while Depardieu pulled his pants down
to convince her that there was hope in longing
and that he carried her song in his chest
that the night belonged to her if she wanted it
and that a Frenchman knows the rooms where women wander
collecting words which are too beautiful to be spoken

he thought I may have hung my head in sorrow
or nostalgia or that my heart may have been touched
by the desire of a large man
lost on a joyless highway looking for enchantment

it never occurred to me that anyone may have thought
I would have been taken by it all
I just needed a dark place to sit
and clip the wings of a butterfly
while a distant light flickered all around me
just enough to remind me of you.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Hawks Directs
After Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo 1959

Feathers saves the day
she rides into town all dressed as Angie Dickinson
taking the sheriff for a spin
while Hawks directs the last stand off
it's not that Ricky Nelson can really sing
it's that Dean plays a mean drunk
and I just can't get him off my mind

Walter Brennan's toothless banter sends me
I know it's pure Furthman and the language flies
I'm in love with the sunsets and dust and Wayne
playing himself one more time
and I know that if I could have anything
it would be to have been born just a year or two before
my birthday
so that I could dip my fingers in the trough
after a long day on the set and head directly to the saloon
for a P.O.V. shot of myself
lost in the best damn western around.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Cancelling Out the Bad Guys
After Mark L. Lester's Commando 1985

He asks me who the hell writes this stuff
like it's not funny
he just doesn't get it
Arnold's all in a tizzy, someone's got his daughter
and he has to fight off the entire U.S. just to get her back
but I tell him it's not the action
listen to the lines they never stop cutting you up
like we need another action hero he tells me
but that's not the point
Arnie's got the comic books beat, he's our last hope
we need a new funny man to lead us into a fantasy
of ourselves pulling up in terrific sports car
jumping off of cliffs to catchy tunes
while the entire world spins out of orbit
and into the next most boring century we've ever seen
it's all poetic justice with Arnie cancelling out the bad guys
and making us feel all warm and fuzzy
in front of everyone
and it can't get more embarrassing than that.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Slow-Motion
After Jean Vigo's Zero de Conduite 1933

Here's the thing
I was going through some movie stills
and I found one, of the final shot
of a film I saw at least a decade before I ever met you

four boys climbing the roof of the school house
a victorious gang of rebels soaring up to the heavens
with nothing on their minds
arms raised like Esther Williams about to dive into a pool
of diamonds and feathers

years before I had known your voice, I heard it
in slow-motion
during the same film on a friday morning
with the snow coming in on northern wings
spilling its contents down on us
thousands of tiny frozen finger nails
on our landscape
reminding us of the most important scene
when the boys rip open a room full of pillows
and find a kind of silent grace in their flowering.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

The Two Edies
After David and Albert Maysles' Grey Gardens 1976

Little Edie and big Edie roam their 28 rooms
in East Hampton until their secret is discovered
one hot September day
on the terrace of a rotting mansion filled with jingoism

the camera never moves, it is Little Edie who dances
in and out of frame
head always covered
a saintly dove gone haywire
wings flapping out of control
imagining herself someday as Big Edie
wading in a pool of tin cans
casting a giant shadow on the walls of her fortress

the public love the Edies
and what's not to like
a mother and daughter who fire up their fog machine
and rile up the entire nation with a little two-step
while feeding raccoons in the attic of a house
whose spirits line the steps waiting for their fall.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

The Fury
After Ridley Scott's The Duellists 1977

They have come across the moors of time
to court each other's fury
with long sabers made of moonbeams
they will duel through the eternities of rain
until the wars of Napoleon come calling
and their magic ends on a hill-top
with the logic of images
set to a hauntingly silent score.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Just a Bit Cold Around the Heart
After Joel Coen's Blood Simple 1984

It must have been about twelve years ago or so
I don't really remember
all I know is that Eli say's "kid, you gotta see this film
it'll tear your guts out"

turns out it's a modern day noir classic
with a knife in the heart
and the lighting comes close to Hitchcock
it's all about love and betrayal and murder
and digging your own grave in the middle of the night
in a deserted field feeling the rhythm of your killer's pulse
it's like taking a dip in a pool of sweat that's gone and frozen
and you come out of it all thinking
that you're just a bit cold around the heart.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Forgotten Bride
After Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran 1934

Flaherty's camera caresses rock and ocean
sky and fisherman
small boats weave in and out of the mountainous waves
the nets are laid out to dry under an unfaithful sun
like a forgotten bride

the storms stir the spirit to hunt
harpoons spear the salty colossus and find a home
in the belly of a shark
while women look for cardigans
among the tide's remains

there is great clarity in his vision
and the roar of the soul is never aloud even a peep
we are left standing on cliffs of such passion
that it is only years later that we discover
he has won our souls out of us.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Yikes! It's All a Bit Too Kitsch
After Michael Gordon's Pillow Talk 1959

Yikes! it's all a bit too kitsch
Doris and Rock hanging out talking on the phone in CinemaScope
with Tony Randall playing interference
it's party line time and Doris hasn't a clue about Rock
I mean she just hasn't got a clue
she's all cute and bubbly lounging on a sea of pillows
waiting for the call to trigger her into action
the scene goes all soft focus and we melt
despite ourselves
despite the fact that this ain't the first time we've been jerked around
by hollywood and lead into a fairy tale we can't escape
despite Rock and his cad-like ways
despite ourselves and Doris and Tony and Rock and the plushness
of it all
we choke back another coke and climb into our fuzzy slippers
rewind the VCR for another shot at the chance to play house.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Pigs and Pearls
After Dusan Makavejev's Montenegro 1981

The monkey's in his cage
our lungs are full of middle-class
we are drowning in the dreams of primates
and down the road there is a woman slicing up roast pig
to the sounds of "Gimme a Little Kiss"
everyone dances with their own exile
it's a better life with a knife in the head
snapping photos of cruel ice-kings
Stockholm allows no one to sleep in her arms
east meets west on neutral ground
blood boils, curdles and we go back
to our saintly lives
with a little tiny pagan spot on our shoes
which we scrub but can't remove
it becomes the only constant in our search
for a paradise roaring with wind.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Cutting Bone
After Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way 1981

We are dead stars
climbing onto crosses eluding rescue
the parade passes through us without notice
the flamenco dancer lifts her heels
to the rhythm of our decay
it's another day that we leave a strip of flesh
on the bathroom door hook
with bastards like us who needs saviours.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

My Whole Life
After Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy 1983

Rup is a full-time nobody
white shoes and checkers
he's just the kind of loud punishment we need
he wants his shot at the big time
it's a two-way street
friendship
coming to you via satellite
on every channel
and if you don't want any part of it
Rup will sure tell you otherwise
see, he's the real funny guy
and his whole life's on the rejection list
step on his toes and he'll replace you so fast
you won't even have time to taste the ugliness
of his smile.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Morocco
After Josef Von Sternberg's Morocco 1930

Marlene sings three numbers
kisses the lips of many men
tips her top-hat in the direction of charming girls
and dances through Moroccan dunes
with a twisted tongue
she banishes us all
she is the next ripple in Joe's calm
and when he moves to light her
she lets him comb back a strand of hair
but always chooses her soldier over him

the desert is a cabaret of footprints
she finds his imprint and fills it
with a mischievous glance
and continues into the sunset
with her back to Joe and all of Hollywood.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER

Somewhere Will Rogers is Smiling
After Bob Clark's A Christmas Story 1983

All I kept hearing my entire childhood was
"you'll put your eye out"
as if there were more to life than a Red Ryder BB gun
as if it wasn't enough that parts of my soul were still frozen
to the school-yard fence in some tiny mid-west town

all I know is that one winter morning finally
an angel brushed up against me
snow drifts climbed up the side of our house
and Will Rogers held my hand steady
as I fired my Red Ryder across the street
into my entire future.

INDEX / TIP/ORDER