CINEMA VERITE

The rapture of light
And shadow and muted color
On the human face
Has given our lives
A fourth dimension,
While tearing our soft bellies
From the umbilicus
Of the other three.
It seduces and destroys
While bringing beloved myths
Into luminous view.
It makes stars
Of beautiful illiterates,
And computer clerks
Of would-be bards.
It frees the imaginations
Of good peasant stock,
Yet as surely ensnares
In a flabby, living room prison.

Copyright 2007 by Jon Gregory. Written in 1991.