there was this movie I worked on
I was in terror, had resulting competency issues,
received various variants of verbal abuse
and I hung on until the official wrap
plus the two days of additional shooting
told myself I wouldn’t allow myself to
be helpless in the face of wrath ever again
so I engaged in decompression therapy
by writing an outline for a roman a clef novel
about a fake blockbuster titled ALIENS OVER HOLLYWOOD
the venting process was entertaining
and took place over a few off-work days
at the Fairfax Farmers Market
where I would write on a legal pad
and consume a small bag of raisins
and discover I was no Hemingway
so, at the end of one creative session,
I wrote a short mock-epic poem on jaywalking
it wasn’t good, but it made me consider
learning the craft of compact stylistic creation
my early poems were monologues
and then I learned to be concise
using both narrative and metaphor
and I kept writing despite
algorithms, changing tastes,
refusing to be on the “good side”
of certain disagreeable crème de la crème
a few poems of mine were anthologized
maybe someone will read them after I’m gone
