Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Five November-December 2024
Final Reel, poems by Mark Roberts.
Final Reel
After Breathless (1960) directed by Jean-Luc Godard
I know it is a trap but I’m in love
and this is how she would want it to end –
though when I saw the police car
at the end of the street I ran.
There is only so much film left
and if it doesn’t end in a kiss
it will end in tears
and they wont be mine.
I run hard for the street corner
for the shelter of concrete.
The first bullet whistles past me,
I am filed with elation.
The second bullet hits my left shoulder
spinning me around. I keep running
I see garbage bins ahead
as the music surges.
More bullets and I’m dancing
staggering into embrace of rubbish.
I hear a clarinet, feel your tears
and sense the end credits
Consecration
forgotten gods
we have rested here for centuries
worshipped now by pigeons
and shadows who slide
between rotting boards at night
to leave small sacrifices
we wait
disguise ourselves as mice
and nibble at stale honey cakes
Taking Tea
After Cléo from 5 to 7 – directed by Agnès Varda (1962)
a man sits at a long table in a white room
the table is shrouded in a white cloth
behind him there is a large tv screen
he is drinking tea from a fine china cup
in front of him a teaspoon rests on a saucer
there is a French movie on the tv
the man has his back to it
and the sound is turned down
we can read the subtlitles
I always think everyone’s looking
at me, but I only look at my soul
Cléo does not look sick
but she is waiting for her doctor
the soldier must return to Algeria
they both walk towards a possible death
the man puts his cup down stands up
places his chair carefully under the table
and leaves the room
I think my fear is gone I think I’m happy
© Mark Roberts
Mark Roberts is a writer, critic and publisher living on unceded Darug and Gundungurra land (NSW, Australia). He is co-editor, along with Linda Adair, of Rochford Street Review. His last poetry collection, Concrete Flamingos, was published by Island Press in 2016. His next collection, The Office of Literary Endeavours, will be published by 5 Islands Press in 2025.