Endings Are Good

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