Eminent Domain

A dog will lift its leg
against any tree anytime
with no regard for the depth
of its roots
or where its shade might fall

Better Driver

I reckon it’s hard to understand
why I skipped that soak in Simi
the other day.  If I had been a better driver, it would have been a breeze.  I had taken the van to Costco
for gas.  Back in the saddle I found myself sandwiched between another old traveller who had slipped in front of me and beside a helpful young woman in a rather shiny
Audi A5.  I zigged and zagged back and forth a few times before realizing I wasn’t going to make it.
So I stopped and sat there.

The Big Sleep

Raymond Chandler knew a thing or two about the breeze.  Consider this opening paragraph from one of his early short stories, from 1946, entitled Red Wind:  “There was a desert wind blowing that night.  It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.  On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight.  Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks.  Anything can happen.  You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”

Harmony

The Daily Fish Wrap this morning
Speaks of an unprecedented limo swarm
Descending on the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion
One spring evening in 1990

All the President’s Men

 

A very tongue-in-cheek look at the power of the press, with a sideways glance at the past, All the President’s Men, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, gets most of its mojo from the superb screenplay by William Goldman (who also penned scripts for The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Misery and A Bridge Too Far.

The story follows two journalists (Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward of The Washington Post) as they search for the truth in uncovering the Watergate scandal that engulfed and ultimately terminated the presidency of Richard Nixon.

 

A Tale of Two Marks

Joan Didion quoting William Butler Yeats
Zimmerman singing of pumps and vandals
Robert Johnson at the crossroads
You know – pick your poison, doll-face

Chinatown

A clever twist on the old film noir detective thrillers from the 1940s, Chinatown is a spellbinding mystery wrapped within a mystery.  The screenplay was developed by Robert Towne, who became intrigued with the hidden and archaic disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century.  Much of the historical jockeying concerned the securing of water rights in the Owens Valley, a dusty enclave near Bishop, California.

Measureable Oaths

I pledge allegiance to the yield
Of the casino states of America
And to the deposit for which it stands
One market
 underhand
With deception and deductions
 for all