Black and White Movies

This is an entry in "The Writer's Cramp" .

Maybe tomorrow, maybe tonight
when the stars peek through the clouds
and I forget to remember what's important
long dead icons smile from above or below

Comedy's Jean Harlow died too soon at twenty-six,
but she wrote a book with a title,
"Today is Tonight,"
or some such lyrical moniker

The 1930s linger on
in black and white comedies
Carole Lombard managed to survive
until a plane brought her down to the mountain

War bonds were all the rage
after Pearl Harbor woke up the nation
and color invaded the screen
with a yellow brick road to war

When Patriotism wasn't just a word
and Bogart asked for Sam to play it again
and we all wept to ourselves on closely watched trains,
while the orchestra played The Marseilles

one more time with feeling


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