Argento Poem

We’re watching Italian Horror movies in class
On screen women are murdered en masse
Including a lesbian couple, just so more women have to die
On their lawn is a silver bust,
Placed there by the art director I guess because this is what lesbians would have on their lawn
Announcing to the world, “we like naked women”.

Across the theatre, the classroom,
There is a boy I had a crush on
And seeing him today, wonder if I still do,
And I turn my head to look at him in the dark, see the outline
Think I hear him laugh
Imagine us in future classes curved in darkness together
ha
Behind me, is a girl, a friend,
We both confided our crushes at the same time
This is bound to be awkward.

The light is too dim to write my notes
About castration anxiety (the murderer is known as the headhunter)
And the chain that binds the hero, a long steel umbilical cord,
So they are scrawled all over the page
Up and down and upside down on both sides of the paper
This director always plays the black gloved hands, says the professor
And of course, he is the ultimate killer, the ultimate saviour
He is in control of this world
And I must say, if someone feels the need to kill a great many beautiful women
On screen is better than on the street
I guess




*I have been going through my old essays from film classes, craving critical thought, still thinking about doing a phd, despite entreaties from certain people not to. I took an auteurism class (twice, actually, with different directors). This time it was with Dario Argento and David Cronenberg, and so I searched my hard drive for documents with the word Argento to see if anything was hiding. I found this poem. I don't remember writing it (in September of 2005, apparently). I think it's really funny.