「ザキさん、こんなクソ寒い夜中になんの用ですか」 空気も凍るような寒さの夜、理由も告げずに俺を稽古場へ呼び出した小劇団の先輩、崎山に不満を隠さず声を掛けた。そこは、稽古場というより廃倉庫といったほうがしっくりくるボロ屋で、風が吹かないだけ外よりマシという状況だった。貧乏劇団ゆえ暖房器具など置いてすらない。 「おう、すまねぇな、森田。ちょっと見せたいもんがあってな」 「金貸してくれってのは無しですよ」 「そんなんじゃねぇよ。芝居の話だ、芝居の」 崎山はもう四十も半ば、芽の出ない役者だ。売れない理由は、今時となっては珍しい「飲む」「打つ」「買う」と三拍子を見事に揃えた素行の悪さが、業界中に知れ渡っているせいだった。どこぞの脚本家の奥さんに横恋慕して旦那に殺されかけただの、賭場で負けて裸で電車に乗って留置所に入れられ...
"Hey, is this the line?" "No, this ain't the line. A line's the shortest distance between two points, this is the longest." "It's not the line?" "Come on kid, yeah it's the line. Don't listen to that jerk." "Who's he calling a jerk?" "Don't worry about it, just get in line." "But..." "Look don't make a scene, the Gestapo over there are looking this wa...
She had to get away. Audrey's family was driving her absolutely crazy. As soon as they arrived back from the restaurant, she made a bee-line for the dock. Though they had loitered at breakfast for nearly two hours, the afternoon heat had not yet set in and she wanted to get out on the water as quickly as she could. Not bothering to change out of her "break...
No, this will not be a discussion about running around on your spouse, lover or significant other, and it has nothing to do with a Beach Boy's song from the sixties. This will be a brief discussion of several French forms of poetry that have been translated into English. Much like the villanelle, all of these forms utilize a limited rhyme scheme and featur...
At first it was just a curiosity, the makeshift line of people snaking down through the streets of the neighborhood, the idle men milling about glancing at their watches from time to time. If my car hadn't stalled, I'd probably just driven past not really paying too much attention, but damn, here I was hiking home, my car parked in a neighbor's driveway. I w...
I stood back up and repositioned myself. People must have tired of me because the music started and people were watching the girls again. I stood there naked and afraid for about an hour. I wondered how long I was to stand there. Finally one of the strippers came up to me. Her name was Kissy. She gave me a dollar bill and told me to get her a beer. Actually...
In my other poetry form articles I reviewed several Japanese form poems including the tanka, sedoka, choka, somonka, renga, and katautas. In other articles I outlined some more involved forms including the villanelle, terzanelle, roundel, rondeau and rondeau redoubled. While each type of form had their own intricacies, the latter group of forms got fairly...
Wow, liberty in Barcelona! I hadn’t even been in the Navy for a year yet, and here I was, about to pull into the same port that Columbus sailed from to go and find the New World. I stood and watched with fascination on the fantail of the ship as we pulled into the port. Our mooring lines were faked out on deck, and our line captain was wetting the heavi...
Of all the devices used by poets to add impact, emphasis or emotion to their words, rhyme seems to be the most popular and also the most mishandled. Nothing can destroy a poem for a reader quicker than poorly handled rhyme. While rhyme can add a certain dignity or classical beauty to a poet's words, it often times can make the most dynamic and powerful ver...
Part One: The Real Rules There are so many laws of the road that people seem to be, well, confused about which parts of the code are the most important. And I do hate to see somebody, especially somebody just in front of me when I need to get somewhere, suffering from confusion. So I've prepared this little guide to help these benighted people out. No need...