Just A Real Thing But That’s Enough

[laughs] “Wes’ whole garage is filled with
our props and paraphernalia. Don’t try
to take them away from him, either!” [laughs harder]

Heather Langenkamp,
on director Wes Craven keeping movie props,
speaking on the commentary track
of “Nightmare on Elm Street”

I hand-crafted this prop for a post last week
and I don’t have the heart to throw it away.

I’ve still never heard Taylor Swift sing a song.

And it’s just an ink-jet printout pasted down
onto an index card with a triangle
cut from another index card and folded
and pasted to the back to hold up the card.

I scribbled the frame with colored ball point pens.

Nothing’s archival. It’s all going to fade.

It will fade quickly but I can’t bring myself
to crumple up the thing and throw it away.

It’s a prop—a pretend thing—but it’s real, too.

It’s done being a prop, it’s done pretending,
so now it’s just a real thing but that’s enough
to make it feel more real to me than I feel.

I’ve never stopped pretending. I’m not that real.

Hell. It should crumple up me, throw me away.