Oz, Shangri-La, Bedford Falls,
Pleasantville—how many ambiguous
imagoes Hollywood has fashioned of itself!
Our golden age, but darkened by sites
under stress. Tonight I saw how it feels
to suffer the brute force of a hundred screws;
the eden of boyish complaisance, of glad
obedience, broken by a warden on high.
I get it, these tumultuous dining halls
and prison yards are the commissary and studio lot,
my neighborhood and your dream factory,
my university and your corporate HQ.
You bang your cup like Beery; I bang
my plate like Chester Morris in a seething dame’s
riotous script. Eventually the countryside
is crazy with rage. First, let’s slaughter the squealers
even if they’re brothers, or fathers. Especially if.
Laurence Goldstein's most recent book is Poetry Los Angeles: Reading the Essential Poems of the City (University of Michigan Press, 2014). His other books include The American Poet at the Movies: A Critical History (1994), four books of poems, including A Room in California (2005) and seven edited or co-edited volumes of cultural commentary.