Dear Lawrence:
Your poetry is good. By accident it somehow resonates with an attempt to
re-view a film by Ingmar Bergman. Incidentally Bergman states in the liner
notes that prior to making the film he wrote in his journal about a plot in
which a boy would make his way into the story. An old man and a very young
boy are travelling. Then the focalisation shifts:
I and my friend, the ageing poet, are on our way home to Sweden after a
long trip abroad. Suddenly he suffers a haemorrhage and loses
consciousness. We therefore have to stop in the nearest city. A doctor
explains through a translator that my friend needs immediate surgery and
therefore has to be admitted to a hospital. That is what happened. I took a
room at a nearby hotel and visited him every day. During this time he was
forever writing poems. I spent the days sightseeing in this gery, dusty,
dreary city. Sirens that scream for no apparent reason from the roofs of
the buildings, the bells ringing, the variety theatre with its pornographic
stage show. The poet has begun to learn the incomprehensible language of
the country.
My favorite, particularly the line, “Old people break, you’ve probably
heard,” which is what my next play is about. But that’s me, and I’m
complimenting you, so I’ll step back to the edge of the light and let you
take the bow.
Applause, applause.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
