When I went to the movies alone
I could weep in the darkness
when they put Ol’ Yeller down…
or when the little blonde kid
wailed Shane! Shane! while Shane
rode stupidly off into the credits…
When I went to the movies alone
it was almost Holy like in church,
like worshipping creation on the screen
(the creation of someone accessible)
each film being another chapter
in a Bible even I could read…
When I went to the movies alone
it was like being in school, only a
real school that only taught Life 101--
all the stuff you really needed to know
but were afraid to ask, all the stuff
they never had the guts to tell you…
When I went to the movies alone
I learned how to go out in a blaze of
glory, when to ride off into the sunset,
how to get Natalie Wood to fall
for me by the end of the show--
that you put girls on pedestals…
Sure, I’d sit with my brother when he went…
or Freddie, my cousin… Jerry or Steve…
but it was always so much more…
spiritual
when I did that
when I went to the movies alone…