further work on After The Movie

I took the input from everybody last week and revised my After the Movie Poem. I also have decided to extend the poem further with a lyric moment. Dan said the last line was like a punch line (which he liked). Sara suggested that perhaps my poem had outgrown the quotes. In thinking about that I thought maybe the poem was being closed down too much by the use of the quotes at the end. So here is the version with the additional ending and using the edits that came out of the workshop.

After The Movie
(After Marie Howe’s After The Movie)

My friend Michael & I cross King Street West, dodging traffic, arguing
about the movie. He says he believes success & happiness are tied—

you can only have one if you have the other.

I say, No they don’t have anything to do with each other,
that’s like saying shoes are necessary to have a coat.

He says  But that is true, no point having a coat
to go outside if you don’t have shoes.  There’ll come a day
you’ll stay inside for good if you don’t have both.

I say,  That sounds like you had happiness before that day.

He says, You might have thought you were happy but
then you realized you were unsuccessful.

I say, What you mean by happiness sounds more like
a business arrangement. I say, Happiness isn’t conditional.

He says, It’s conditional on what it takes to be happy.

We’re now standing in front of the Snooty Fox— the old Westdale Theatre’s marquee
blinking half on & mostly off across the street— & I hear my voice
saying what I say to myself all the time—

Most everyone’s life is pretty well mediocre at best & really
should anyone ask for more?

Michael takes hold of my elbow.
Yes, he says, They can & fucking well should.

Inside we order Barking Squirrels from our bartender, burly & bearded.

The beer is dark, rich burnt orange. I sip it like I have never seen beer before.

What are you up to tomorrow? says Michael.

But what I think he is saying is—“You are a failure, you should stay in your house forever.”

Then I think “Does he know I want to remain bewildered?”

The noise level is rising, laughter coming
from somewhere, glasses clinking somewhere. Although we just got to the bar
we both have been here a very long time.

I say, Try not to be a man of success said Einstein.

Michael says, Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre said Camus.

Our bartender jumps in, Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions said Flaubert.

Outside the marquee still blinks no-blinks, blurred red tail lights pass by
on King St West, I know down the side street

my perfectly squat house sits perfectly
darkly quiet, at the end of that street is the trail

into the woods where the nocturnal beasts wander.