THE AUTHOR AS MAN WHO WATCHES SAM GET MURDERED FROM A DARK ALLEY AND PROCEEDS TO HIDE AS HE LISTENS TO MOLLY SCREAM IN GHOST

THE AUTHOR AS MAN WHO WATCHES SAM GET MURDERED

FROM A DARK ALLEY AND PROCEEDS TO HIDE AS HE LISTENS TO

MOLLY SCREAM IN GHOST

by Keith Montesano

          After the film by Jerry Zucker

I was there, among the stench & decay & back alleys—
          beyond the filth of this place. I was waiting to score
from a no-show, & saw the guy come from nowhere—
          some dark street at a distance. I can make it all up
with excuses and inexcusables, but it wouldn't work
          for this. I watched & watched. I heard her scream, & thought
maybe he wasn't dead, that the gods, & luck, somehow, saved
          a life that night, & I was witness to it: to heaven, to love,
to the world of screaming & dying lovers. Because
          that's what we get in the end: the fearlessness, & the fear
of a watcher who feels for his life, & knows he can do it all
          but walk over, after, & offer some condolence, something
to say this will all work out. & we know it will. & we know
          those dark alleys are places we need, we feel, & end with.