endings are good
much as we try
to avoid them
the endings of movies
for example
we sit lost
in the cinema
in no-time
floating
and we do not want
the film to end
but when it ends
we take with us
the memory of the film
we can call it up
in our minds
over decades
sometimes
the perfect symmetry
of a café table
the placement of the ashtray
and the coffee cups
in a jim jarmusch film
an old man
within his final days
wandering the streets
of old havana
seeking a pair of shoes
to buy for his granddaughter
i didn’t want the film memento
to end but when it did it
i found myself returning to it
in my mind for years
the outstretched arm
of the australian actor
covered with messages
about how to live
the ending of the film
allowed me to incorporate it
into the new life i would live
after i exited the cinema
but the protagonist
no longer had memory
endings for him
must have felt
or must feel
so different
