Living At The Matinees

Writer's Journal 22

It’s tricky to go to the movies when you’re as tall as I am, hard to squeeze in the seats. It takes a while to arrange myself. I have to shift every so often. If I don’t, I turn into a block of wood. That’s what I told the people behind me... If I don’t move a little, I’m going to turn to stone and they’ll cart me off to a museum. Nobody wants to see a movie with a totem pole blocking the view...As low in the seat as I can, I said after they complained repeatedly. They told me to shut up.

I go to the movies alone because that’s the way it is these days. Women are busy, they have too much to do, and even if I found one who wasn’t busy, going to see an old movie in the afternoon wouldn’t be her idea of must-see cultural endeavor, so I’ve stopped trying to find anybody to share a row with... My eyes are not so good so I sit close to the front.

Anyway I’m not one of those people who like to spend their time decorating their jail cell, if you know what I mean, or being a good boy scout and handing Control my latest data. I like to get out and sometimes I end up in a movie theatre where I sometimes get lucky.

Nous sommes à la plage et la lune galope à travers les nuages. Mais avant nous avons pris le métro aerien, assis tout près l’une de l’autre dans le cage de le mécanicien. Je lui avais raconté l’histoire de Joey et de Tony... Don’t know why these lines are stuck in my head but here I am in the dark reciting them, waiting for the film to begin.