Saturday, November 17, 2012

Murder Ordained


MURDER ORDAINED

______________________ 

Hush, Hush Sweet Lorna

Gothic Groanings

Hollywood Hauntings

The Granada Theater Knows

Lorna Tells All

The Emporia Gazette

Midwestern Noir Muse

Deconstructing the Fly-Over State

Escaping Emporia

Returning Home

______________________

 

Hush, Hush Sweet Lorna


As Sandy Bird fell 
Downward off the Rocky Ford
Bridge into the murky waters
Of the dark Cottonwood River

Falling down in slow motion —
Down from the old cables and
Gothic girders silhouetted by
The cruel Kansas starlight

Leaving bloody handprints —
Clutching the stark railings
Staining the whole Granada
Grande Dame Guignol Movie
___________________

Gothic Groanings


There in the putrid pews 
In the shadowy sanctimonious
Aisles of the Lutheran Church
Where murder was ordained

Blessed by the congregation —
Preached by the gaunt gothic
Minister who turned Emporia
Into a TV murder mystery

Like “Dead Ringer” (1964) —
“Strait–Jacket” (1964) and
“Lady in a Cage” (1964)
The list going on & on

“Die! Die! My Darling!” —
“I Saw What You Did!” (1965 )
“Queen of Blood” (1966) and
“Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?”
_________________

Hollywood Hauntings


Not to mention others —
“Frightmare” (1974) and
“A Knife for the Ladies”
Plus “Blood and Lace”

“The Killing Kind” (1973) —
“Cry of the Banshee” and
“That Cold Day in the Park”
Plus “Night Warning”

As well as “In Cold Blood” —
“Queen of Blood” (1966)
“Berserk,” and yes
 “Hush, Hush Sweet Lorna!”

Gimme some Grande Dame —
Guignol Cinema and I’ll give
You an American goth flick
Worthy of wasted Emporia!
_________________

The Granada Theater Knows


“Come in, Madame Capote! —
Suave smooth Soothsayer and
Famed Kansas Clairvoyante of
“In Cold Blood” Psychic Powers!

The Granada Theater is packed —
All the way to the crowded Balcony
With Halloween Trick or Treat
Emporians eager for Cheap Thrills!

All the town’s staid churches —
Are boycotting the Cinema Séance
Delving into the Dirty Secrets
From whence Bird Bridge flowed

“Oh, Authoress of Cold Blood! —
Oh, Great Emporia Enchantress!
Give us the Holcomb Down-low
On louche Lorna’s Love Life!!!
_________________

Lorna Tells All


"Commune with us, tonight 
Sweet Sister of Sin and Sorrow
Confess your Skanky Secrets
Bring on the Dark Shadows!”

“Speak American Goth Spirit! —
Read our Red State Beads!
Tell us all the Wretched Secrets!
About the Rats in the Cellar!”

“Aghast and totally Disgusting —
Tell us about The Bad Seed!
From whence flows all our tacky
Fly Over State Fuck Up’s!!!

“Tell us a Goth Ghost Story —
Befitting our Midwestern Noir
Skeletons in the Dark Closet!
What goes Bump in the Night!!!”
__________________

The Emporia Gazette


Soon the Emporia Gazette —
Began gossiping like the tacky
Scandal-Rag National Enquirer
Telling the most horrible Tales

Small town idyllic Emporia —
Once used to sleepy streets
And elm-shaded neighborhoods
Safely hidden from prying eyes

Suddenly turning into a louche—
Lorna Anderson Murder Mystery
TV Show that would’ve simply
Shocked poor William Allen White!

“Hush! Hush! Sweet Lorna!” —
The Gazette Headlines Hissed
“What Ever Happened to poor
Sandy Bird?” Emporia asked
________________

Midwestern Noir Muse


I have this Midwest noir 
Muse whispering inside my
Midnight movies dreams
Haunting me late at night

I simply can’t help it —
I blame Raymond Chandler
And Mickey Spillane as well
Plus campy noir Miss Capote

But most of all I suppose —
That old Yoknapathawpa queen
Miss Faulkner deserves most
Of the shameless noir blame

Deep South Delta Dixie —
Decadence rotten to the core
Mildewing just like my tacky
Midwestern noir existence!!!
________________

Deconstructing the Fly-Over State


Funny how things work out 
In ways you’d never expect things
To work their way through the
Nefarious detours & divagations

I’m more open to it now it seems—
Once I got used to being down on
My knees in the gutter looking up
At the heavenly stars above

Pretending to be hoity-toity about—
Being way up there above it all
Looking down at the Fly Over State
From a lofty jet plane high above

Suddenly I was born again it seems—
Plopped down like a runny juicy tacky
Cow patty from the haughty sky above
All the way down to Midwestern noir
___________________

Escaping Emporia


Thomas Wolfe seems somewhat—
Misguided to me when he says in his
“Look Homeward Angel” that we can’t
Ever return back Homeward again?

It’s just the opposite for me—
I tend to think that we can
Never actually leave our dumpy
Homes ever at all, my dears!

We’re stuck with it forever—
It’s embedded deep in our
Dizzy devolving head like being
Helplessly born Middle Class slobs

What makes us run away?—
We run from ourselves madly
Helter skelter but unfortunately
There’s simply No Escape at all
____________________

Returning Home


Nostalgia for me ends up—
Being nothing more than a touchy
Migraine headache that simply
Doesn’t want to go away

I’ve got the Granada Theater—
The Strand and the 50-S Drive In
Playing movies for me all the time
Up there inside my balcony head

Old film palaces haunt me—
Decaying decrepit abandoned
Haunts like all those gone movie
Theaters in dying dead Detroit

My only consolation being—
The Bijou Matinees still playing
On summer Saturday afternoons
There inside my Valentino heart









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