Dedicated to Orson WELLES in remembrance of our short discussion in Knightsbridge, London, in 1959, when I was the Out-of-Print bookman at Harrods, Ltd., department store. I backed out - through sheer diffidence and callowness - at the wonderful opportunity he offered me. After all, I was only 25 then.

The ZEN-KOAN as Poem - The Same Question - XI

[HOLLYWOOD and the geniuses (screen writers adapting some of the chef d'oeuvres of all time, not forgetting the plethora of acting talent from the Actors Studio, etc.) from within, joined by others from without such as Elia Kazan, is America's greatest gift to the WORLD. Single-handedly HOLLYWOOD with some help from "Les Frères Lumières " and France (Renoir), Russia (Eisenstein), Japan (Kurosawa), India (Satyajit Ray), England (Carol Reed), Sweden (Ingmar Bergman) - to mention the principal few - have shaped "Le Septième Art" into the foremost cultural revolution of modern times, a formidable dynamo of Renaissance re-doubled that can never peter out. It is no hyperbole nor understatement to say that LIFE has changed for the better, forever, all over the WORLD. T. Wignesan]

The Master said: "CAN YOU DELAY TIME ?"

Said Monk-Disciple 1: "Yes, if you distract It's attention by telling It cock and bull stories like in Bolly-Tolly-Wood scenarios where WOGs and WOLs dance in Jackson thriller-formation !"

Said M-D 2: "Yeah, (fat chance that) give yourself a good enough reason to be grounded, and just when you think you'd be shipped back, you'd be caught on AWOL and be put back on duty. That's the rub !"

Said M-D 3: "Yes and No !/.../ The way the Harmornik-Man lifted his eyes towards NOON (on the clock face) to warn the Sheriff.../ only to be mowed down by the now grown-up boy come to wreak vengeance through nearly half of the delayed death film..."

Said M-D 4: "Did you break jail ?" "No, I got a remission. 4 instead of 7. /.../ The handouts say, there are 800 seasonal jobs in.../.../ Here, we've been ousted out by the Big Banks.../.../our houses bull-dozed. We haven't even the right to squat on our lands !"

Said M-D 5: " You'll forgive me...He's common.../.../ an animal.../...animal's habits.../thousands of years have passed him right by and he's missed all that .../...there's been some progress... there's art, poetry and music.../.../ Surely you haven't forgotten our upbringing ?/.../ Don't hang back with the brutes !"

Said M-D 6: "I'm going to hit you hard for trying to sell a man who is on the run. /.../ Patching up his body so that he can be executed. /.../ Listen to me Kathleen. This life's nothing but a trial for the Life to come. /.../ ...and have not charity: I have nothing !" /.../What do you want with me? Go back to life !" /.../ "I'm coming with you. We are going away together !"

Said M-D 7: "No man can bring about the perfect murder !/.../ Yes, I'm happy. I'm delighted to be bossed by you. /.../ (She was having her morning tub./.../ We had just finished talking about our plans for the future. /.../ Just minutes ago, she had said it wasn't loaded./.../ I decided to play a practical joke, and pretend I was a burglar. /.../ As soon as it happened, I called an ambulance, but it was too late...)/.../ "You are never going to see that miserable brat, again !"

Said M-D 8: "Hey, Buddy ! (Accosting him in the street.) Can you help a fellow compatriot out... I haven't had a meal all day./.../(Gives him a buck.) / (Later in the day, while the other gets his shoes shone...) Hey, buddy, can you help a fellow compatriot out. I haven't had a meal all day.../.../ (Gives him a buck and the guy spends it on tequila .)/.../ (The day draws out. He needs a hair cut, so he happens upon the well-dressed in white gentleman in the street): "Hey, buddy, can you help a fellow compatriot.../.../ "Here, take this. (He slaps a peso coin in his outstretched palm; takes the other palm and slaps another big coin into it and says: "This's for not giving me the same routine again this day!/.../ The fellow compatriot says: "Sorry, I don't look at the face of the guy who gives - only at the coin in my palm!" (It so happens that the giver is the legendary producer-director and the beggar the lead actor-star !)

Said M-D 9: "Josepha, the moon's racing. Time's racing, too!" /.../ "It's a trick ! Don't go, Emil." /.../ "I must do what is needed./..."But, if anything happens to you, what will become of the people ?/.../ "They will be led by each other."

Said M-D 10: "Who do they think they are kidding ! A body shot up like this, could be any body./.../ Can you capture the river? Can you kill the wind ?/.../He's up in the mountains !/.../ "Kill that horse before it gets away. /.../ "These people are very superstitious ..."

Said M-D 11: "Don't go Emil.../.../ I know it's a trap./.../ "But I must. A STRONG MAN makes for a Weak People. A STRONG PEOPLE don't need a Strong Man !"

[Same routine as in ZEN-KOAN IX. I won't disclose names and players unless the copyright owners require me to - for obvious reasons. Thank you kindly. T. Wignesan] 
(c) T.Wignesan, Paris, 2022