I fell in love

with celluloid before I could spell it

and perhaps even before I knew

how much a grip it would hold

on my soul.

 

A cold night in Birmingham,

my cousin and I out with an aunt

decked out against the billowing

droplet air, glacial toes riding

against warm pins and needles

and her stockings catching fire

breath as they rode

up and down

over her knees

and the static sparking life

on the nylon covered seats.