Saturday, December 30, 2017

Poem: Aisle Seat Please - Snacks - Snow!!!


Image result for apollo 13

Will the real astronauts from the Apollo 13 please stand up?

Here's their story.

TCM featured it last night since Bill Paxton, who played Fredo, the astronaut, passed away in 2017. Cause of death: complications from heart surgery. He was 61.

Bill Paxton 2014 retouched.jpg  Bill, we'll see you on the other side of the moon.

AISLE SEAT, PLEASE

With his flashlight
he led me down the
darkened theater

I blew my nose
softly as I sat down
and prepared for
three films
I'd never seen before

Mildred Pierce came first.
Joan Crawford won an
Academy for this. You
mustn't watch if you
can't stand a mother
who raises a spoiled
brat of a child.

That would be rosebud-
mouthed Ann Blyth, still
alive today at 89.

Jules and Jim was a lovely
black and white with bicycles,
kisses, trench warfare, and
a death triangle, as Jeanne
Moreau rejects each man
she loves. Each lover
falls hard the moment
they see her dreamy
deadly eyes.

I raced up front and chose
sweet-potato chips, yes, they
are crunchy, to fortify me
through the the final film.

Why had I thought Apollo 13
was a triumphant walk on
the dusty surface of the
moon?

The rocket engine blew up
shortly after launch. The
Odyssey Three as ground control
called them, fought for their
lives. Towards the end they
had barely any oxygen, too much
CO2, they turned blue with cold
and in a final inspirational
speech, Tom Hanks, after hugging
his men said, I couldn't be
prouder of you.

We all cried as their parachutes
opened over the ocean, even testy
Ed Harris back at NASA.

I too dabbed my eyes as I
realized I was sitting in
Scott's bed - he'd gone to
work - and I was borrowing
both his warm socks and
his Turner Classic Films.

***
I get so many donation requests in the holiday season. I write down every donation I give on a sheet of paper affixed to my wall.

I finally gave to WHYY-TV,  $5 per month. This morning I wanted to give to the Adan Hospital Maternity section - view it here - holy cow, I had no idea it was in Kuwait!

And so I did.

When I went to w/draw the money from my checking account - $15 - I saw the bank had charged me $10 for several w/drawals.

What's going on here, I asked Rachel, drawing water at the well, at the bank.

If you have more than 6 w/drawals they charge you tell dollars.

Jeez, I said. It's like I'm giving the bank a cut for all my generosity.

Woke up with a scratchy throat. Nuzzled under the covers on the couch and continued watching the thoroughly most terrible Netflix pix imaginable.

One is called THE DINNER. Roger Ebert hates it!

The Dinner Movie Review

 Finally stopped snowing.

Gotta write a quick poem about my car.


SNOW COVERED CRACKERS

Be it bird or boy or
bellydancer or barn swallow
If' metal's your thing
come and dine neath
the pearl grey sky.




After I woke up from The Dinner, I snacked on sweet-potato chips and mild salsa.

I supped on soup - that cream of mushroom with the sweet condensed milk. Tell ya the truth, it tasted like butterscotch soup.

Watched a couple of TED Talks, about Alzheimer's disease. It's probly already growing in our brains OR we're gonna be caregivers.

Me? Learn Japanese?

Me? Learn the accordion?

Me, with my horribly painful right arm, will go upstairs and hunker under the covers and read.

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