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Posts Tagged ‘character’

Leaving the Film Festival the Day Before My Daughter Leaves for College

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on September 7, 2026| 4 Comments »


 
 
High angle shot: we see the main character,
dressed in boots, a pale orange sweater 
and a brown cowboy hat, emerging slowly 
from a theater with a throng of others. 
She looks small, vulnerable. Close up: reveals
she’s been crying, no, is still crying, but perhaps
trying not to cry. Medium shot. A beautiful young woman, 
late teens, in a gray t-shirt, long brown hair floating loose
around her shoulders, comforts the main character. 
Asks her if she would like to go for a walk instead 
of getting back in line to see another film. 
The main character shakes her head, then nods, 
laughs, even as the tears continue to fall. Insists 
that even though she cries so much, the movie 
that would be made about her is a comedy. 
The young woman rolls her eyes, nods, 
takes the woman in the hat by the hand, walks her 
away from the crowd. Long shot reveals they are 
in high mountains, the aspen not yet changing, 
but there’s a golden hue to their green. Above the aspen,
the spruce are thick, and above tree line, the sheer cliffs 
tower, red and gray, shadowed, then spangled with the kind 
of light you see in movies but can’t imagine
in your own life. But it is her own life. And she walks
with the smiling but serious young woman who is her daughter
through the unbearably beautiful set. The camera shot
changes to her point of view, focusing on the small brown bird
that sits on a railing beside her, then on the green leaves fluttering
above them, then on her own hand twined with her daughter’s,
the touch light and familiar. There are no lines for this scene
in which she wonders how she ever got lucky enough to nab 
this leading role and the supporting role in this other story.
After the preparation, the letting go. 
So much is about to change. 
She’s determined to give it her everything.

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Going Home

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 31, 2021| Leave a Comment »




Today I am so grateful
we are the characters
who go on a journey
and learn to find the bravest, best
and kindest versions of ourselves,
even when the road is beset
with Lestrygonians driving white Range Rovers,
especially when Charybdis tries to merge
into our crowded two-lane sea
after driving in the eddies of the emergency lane
to bypass the long lines,
yes, we are the characters who learn
that we are responsible for our own soundtrack
and must sing to meet each moment,
must be our own sirens calling ourselves
again and again and again
to crash only on our own shores
then sail on more carefully, more purposefully,
our song all the more joyful,
more determined, and yes, more alive.

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