qarrtsiluni

by Leslie Ann Minot

Real bombs go off, and famine chases droughts,
while markets crash and burn like satellites.
The world is far too much, and full of doubts.
Only old movies get us through these nights.
We envy tuxedo pleats and savoir faire,
the gold and the guns, the girl in the gown,
the danger and the daring not to care.
Whether or not we choose, we all go down
the mountain in a cello case. It’s nice
to go down as Bond, bow tie to socks,
as cool as a martini. Over ice
we sweat and swear, careening on the rocks,
machine-gunned, knuckles clenched, and vision blurred.
Most of us are shaken; a few are stirred.
__________

Notes: The cello case chase is a well-known Bond segment from the 1987 The Living Daylights. The World Is Not Enough is the 1999 offering from the franchise.

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Leslie Ann Minot received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College in 2004, and has previously published poetry and translations of poetry in The Chicago Review, The Red Rock Review, New Letters, and neon geyser/porcelain sky. She has published critical articles in The European Romantic Review and Excavatio, as well as in collections on Victorian sensation fiction, Caribbean literature, Georges Sand, and Muriel Rukeyser. Currently, she is watching too much Dark Shadows on video.