Sunday, January 11, 2009

Poetry Train Monday - 83 - When He First Appeared at The Bottom of the Stairs


For today's Poetry Train I'm doing the first in what will be a series of found poems. This one is from a diary entry I made on Jan. 12th, 1980 when I was 15.

When He First Appeared at The Bottom of the Stairs


Michelle and I
Watched
Star Trek - it was Charlie X

That's so
Funny too
Because
Every Friday night
Michelle and I
Guess
What episode Star Trek will be
And Michelle had guessed
Charlie X

Mom, Dad
Michelle
Connie and I
Went
To the Rebecca Cohn
This evening
To see
Gone With the Wind

So many people came

At intermission, the
Line-up in the washroom was
A mile long

The movie was astounding

It overwhelmed me

Vivien Leigh
Was
So good
As Scarlett

What an actress

Clark Gable, of course
Was
Terrific

When he first appeared
At
The bottom of the staircase

At Tara
During the barbeque

The whole audience
Sighed
And burst
Into applause

Copyright - Jan. 11, 2009 - Julia Smith

Original diary entry - Jan. 12, 1980

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Ah - another Trekkie!!

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" Loving me some Clark Gable!

Isn't it fun to go back over old journals and read things you wrote as a teenager? I love doing this!

Anonymous said...

Great narration. I loved it. You made all so vivid. I want more of such found poems.

unconnected

anthonynorth said...

Us Trekkies must stick together, though - no uniforms :-)

Anonymous said...

I like find poems especially ones that are written when we are young, it's nice to relive the moment

Anonymous said...

Wonderful memories! I like the way you titled this - good line choice.

Sherri B. said...

You captured a classic movie moment with the most perfect teen wonder...I love that you still have your old journals. Wish I had mine!

Tumblewords: said...

How cool that you still have your journals - this is a nifty poem - brings back a few memories to this person, for sure!!

floreta said...

i love the idea of found poems! very good voice for 15 :)

Linda Jacobs said...

I'm gonna do this! Great idea!

I really like the end words you chose and the spacing!

Just excellent!

John E. Tran said...

Great find!

Live long and prosper, fellow Trekkies!

Danika Dinsmore said...

this is brilliant and you know what's funny? I read the poem first before your introduction / explanation and I thought to myself, "this is so cool, it's like someone just talking to me." (like Frank O'Hara)

I am moving my blog over to wordpress from blogspot. It's not officially launched yet (until I spiff it up a bit), but I did challenge folks to try this found poem exercise with their diaries.

The Accidental Novelist (Writes Again)

Thomma Lyn said...

I'm a Trekkie, too! My favorite is The Next Generation.

I love your found poem. And Gone With the Wind is an amazing novel and an amazing movie -- talk about characters who come to life!! :)

Anonymous said...

This will be even more fascinating in 15 years. :) I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan too.

Travis Cody said...

Charlie X is one of my favorite episodes. I love the original series.

Not really a GWTW fan though.

Danika Dinsmore said...

I finally wrote my found diary poem. Thanks for the inspiration. :-)

diary haiku