Reel Life

The penalty you face
for leading a static life
is the delineation of yourself as spectator:

You watch the fairy reel start up,
begin to play in real time,
Technicolor,
on every street,
on every corner.

Every street corner a peep show
you cannot pay not to watch.

Funny, you think, this doesn't seem scripted.

You decide to leave,
decide to walk out,
get your money back,
remember this as Lesson Learned
and be on your way,
but when you try to rise
you realize you're already standing.
When you turn to leave
you realize there's nowhere to go.

The film is all around you.

You are in the film.

No wonder, you think, the sound is so good.

Then, realizing your folly too late,
seeing bridges in the distance leading out of the city
that you only know are there due to the smoke of their burning,
you understand there is no film.

There never was.

This is your life.

You are the streets.
You are the corners.
You are the street corner peep show.

You are no longer entertained.