Act Naturally (The Beatles)

Headed to the movie in a few minutes for Date Night with my husband - given my week away and then subsequent scramble to catch up, we've had a hit-and-run relationship for the last three weeks. It will be nice to relax with a nice romantic comedy, and a bite to eat afterwards... with some good getting-each-other-up-to-speed conversation - the one-on-one evening is long overdue... <3

SONG: Act Naturally by The Beatles

BOOK: Myth & the Movies: Discovering the Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films by Stuart Voytilla

POEM: The Movies by Billy Collins

I would like to watch a movie tonight

in which a stranger rides into town

or where someone embarks on a long journey,

a movie with the promise of danger,

danger visited upon the citizens of the town

by the stranger who rides in,

or the danger that will befall the person

on his or her long hazardous journey—

it hardly matters to me

so long as I am not in danger,

and not much danger lies in watching

a movie, you might as well agree.

I would prefer to watch this movie at home

than walk out in the cold to a theater

and stand on line for a ticket.

I want to watch it lying down

with the bed hitched up to the television

the way they'd hitch up a stagecoach

to a team of horses

so the movie could pull me along

the crooked, dusty road of its adventures.

I would stay out of harm's way

by identifying with the characters

like the bartender in the movie about the stranger

who rides into town,

the fellow who knows enough to duck

when a chair shatters the mirror over the bar.

Or the stationmaster

in the movie about the perilous journey,

the fellow who fishes a gold watch from his pocket,

helps a lady onto the train,

and hands up a heavy satchel

to the man with the mustache

and the dangerous eyes,

waving the all-clear to the engineer.

Then the train would pull out of the station

and the movie would continue without me.

And at the end of the day

I would hang up my oval hat on a hook

and take the shortcut home to my two dogs,

my faithful, amorous wife, and my children—

Molly, Lucinda, and Harold, Jr.

QUOTE: "Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." ~ Gloria Steinem