The Door
Office corridor of a building on Vermont Avenue. Photo by Elizabeth
Ward and Alain Silver
Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. ©1987
by Wanda Coleman
1
having trouble with doors. they don't open
or open too swiftly like trap doors in a marriage / the
wicked light that reveals that nothing hoped for
was hidden in those once dense shadows
the gent vanishes
night roils on like decaying celluloid in a forgotten canister
(that's the plan made to assassinate dictators of the eye,
never mind the heart)
2
the last door leads to a deserted arena
where the fighter reels in the ring
under kleigs, to the jeers of one, hopes contact
will first shatter then seize consciousness
before the canvas comes up for a kiss
3
trouble with doors that open onto graves
or prison courtyards
4
there are no bleached blondes in this claustrophobic's
scenario, no flights to Rio to bask beachside
or sip dark rum punch under sun-blitzed umbrellas
the trail doubles back upon itself
our protagonist mute before that towering and
resolutely slammed door, poised there
in a rain of splinters,
a shadowy figure sliding to its knees
5
door trouble. open sez me. from
the other side
someone holds the knob
6
recurrent dream: i am running naked down a corridor of doors
breasts and bottom bouncing, feet kissing cold marble.
all open instantly, lead to more
each corridor colder, each door more ornate
Double Indemnity's double threat: Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) and the shadow of an insurance agent, Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), whose moral compass points toward murder for profit.
Among screen gems, this 1944 feature ranks as the black diamond; it more than any other movie of its age defined the mood, style and sensibility of film noir. Director Billy Wilder endured a prickly writing collaboration with Raymond Chandler to produce the matchless screenplay.
|
You
have fallen into the Noir Realm |
L.A. Poetry
Festival Home Page
lapoetryfestival.org