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woody allen's late-fall project

by Gabriel Ricard

Next week’s terrible news broadcast
held a rehearsal dinner in the surrounding streets.

Only the sensitive types
ever pay attention to that stuff.
Sometimes they’re so unhappy about it
that the writing suffers from overexposure,
and the photographs are ruined by the sound
of an even better opportunity coming right up.

I have friends who live to try
and outdo each other in that misery racket.

The winner and all-time champion
of that place in the world where the Land of Oz
looks like the badlands in a snowstorm
is usually too quiet to celebrate.

I’d like to be a little nosier myself.

It’s First Friday, darling. All you have to do
is keep me from freezing to death
and smack me in the forehead
with a wooden paddle
whenever others can’t tell the difference
between sarcasm and a biblical cry for help.

My glasses are always falling off my face.
So if you can,
make sure I’m still wearing them
when we’re too busy giggling and stumbling
unscathed through one midnight farmer’s market after another.

When we’re too busy to be afraid of preachers
who don’t have time to hate just one type of person.

When we get passed the cheerful southern salesmen,
who dress up like Batman and sell guns from trucks
that couldn’t even bother to look like The Batmobile.

Don’t be angry when I say the most hurtful thing
I can possibly come up with,
because I’m not as patient with failure
as I used to be.

We’re still young.
We can still add a few more layers
to the suitcase check under our eyes
for a chance to lie to anyone who’s crazy enough
to believe that any hopeful fool can get the devil
to walk them further than just halfway across the river.

We can tell them we did that years ago,
and we can laugh at anyone who swears
they wouldn’t trade anything for the day they got married.

Let’s wait until we’ve gone our separate ways
to write about how secretly dejected we were.

Until then
I wouldn’t change a thing,
and I wouldn’t dream of asking anyone else
to step on my toes
when we haven’t even begun to show
everyone how we dance.

05/11/2011

Posted on 05/11/2011
Copyright © 2024 Gabriel Ricard

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Morgan D Hafele on 05/19/11 at 10:26 AM

I don't know what it is about, "I have friends who live to try
and outdo each other in that misery racket." but i love these lines. on top of a great piece the ending is about as perfect as they get.

Posted by Julie Adams on 05/25/11 at 01:37 AM

the subjects in this piece are fab, all the imagery, the jaded stance, how you carve it into a signature Gabriel Ricard piece, adorned with a poetic arc that bends from the universal to the intimate...have I mentioned lately how I love your work, kudos, peace, jewels

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