Selected Scenes: Bad Lieutenant

A spoiler-free single-scene film review & analysis.


Do you ever have a bad day on the road? Sometimes, I get a kick out of pretending that asshole who just cut me off has a life far worse than mine (even though they drive a shiny Escalade with a bumper-sticker that says “My Other Whale Is My Boat”).

Par-example: today at 3 PM, near a school, my wife and I are trying to get out of our Chinese-reflexology foot massage clinic’s underground parking (or CRFMCUP). My wife was driving, and – men, let’s commiserate here – she’s not the best driver. Truth-be-told we’ve never been in an accident, but I sometimes fear for my life just the same. Now picture a four-way traffic stop, and we’re trying to turn left. Everyone driving straight is coming from the Middle School, and left is bumper-to-bumper because of construction two blocks down. My wife pulls into the middle of the intersection – not letting anyone turn right – only to be denied access to the last spot before the light at the end of the gridlock from some person & their kid in a pick-up. We pull in behind him & stick-out ass-end just as the light changes and we start moving again. It doesn’t sound so bad describing it – considering it took all-of five-whole-seconds out of my day – but I assure you that I was on Death’s door.

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wrecked

A poem about a beauty with an ugly heart.


i saw a monster today.

walking among us –
her profile in view,
she confronted me like divinity –

a crack split down the center of her dark-skinned face

and all the blood came rushing back,
scarred by time –
dreamless.
a body to take you there
but eyes that bring you back.

i am urged to ignore her
so i leave her alone,
trying to escape the power she casts
when she stares back at me half-mast.

//jf 6.2.2021


Photo by Matt Hardy on Pexels.com

shellfish

A poem.


what do you mean i don’t come on anyone’s authority?
you Sir catechize in impossibilities!
a list of people who know me,
systematically,
who would speak efficaciously
re: me?
preposterousity!
while alternately, you could accept me at the length of my extended goatee.

lengthy exhale
but if we must to win your trust,
then let us descend into the chancery,
unpedantically –

mind the leads,

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getting trane’d

A poem about perception.


I have only ever been good for two things.
no matter like the valles of Mars
my thew twists in to canyons,
veins like rivers running red through them.
a walking fucking island.
when is it over?
when can i stop?
when daylight and i drop.

i chew gum to stop me from chewing my warts
and my nails are broken in two.
ive only ever been good for two things,
when you look close enough and the cracks start to show
but youre always too busy with your rebute.
when it it over?
when do you stop?
when an island becomes a mountain
and daylight and i drop.

//jf 3.28.2021


Photo by Mumtahina Tanni on Pexels.com