LANA: “I just keep running what happened through my head.”
CHLOE: “Lana, you can’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”
LANA: “That part I’m pretty clear on.”
CHLOE: “Look, nobody wanted to see her die. But if you hadn’t come when you did it would have been my obit on the front page. Maybe. Of section D. Anyway, thank you. Again.”
LANA: “How do you do that? Just brush it under the rug, as if nothing happened?”
Smallville
Episode 120, Season 6
“Hydro”
In the TV show about Superman
as a young man, the TV show “Smallville,”
very often characters asked questions,
and when the other character answered,
they answered a question that wasn’t asked.
Characters who deal with superheroes
just keep running what happened through their head
and things are as unclear to them as to
characters who deal with supervillains.
I’d ask a question about cameras.
I’d ask about photographs and paintings.
And I know Chloe would just say something
about how newspapers run on deadlines
and it would be ridiculous to wait
for a painter to compose a painting
when a breaking story is happening.
I wouldn’t even bother asking her
why she had answered that way. Once you know
the person you’re talking to is thinking
of supervillains and superheroes
I think the only way to understand
why they’re answering you the way they are
and what might be your question’s real answer
is just to run what happened through your head
again and again, the way a painter
might stand in front of a blank white canvas
just stand there staring at the empty space
or work away scribbling in a sketchbook
trying out random shapes on random shapes
until, in their head, an image takes form
that they can paint on the canvas by craft.
And I know Chloe would just say something
about how newspapers run on deadlines
and it would be ridiculous to wait
for a painter to compose a painting
when a breaking story is happening.
A camera’s a mechanical thing
and it can be something like hypnotic
watching gears turn and all the gear teeth mesh.
Who wants to watch an artist stand around
staring at a canvas, or sit around
sketching random scribbles on scratch paper?
I’ve come to suspect questions and answers
are something like a boring old art form
and we should build museums for people
who run things through their heads like gears turning
when they could be watching real gears turning.
as a young man, the TV show “Smallville,”
very often characters asked questions,
and when the other character answered,
they answered a question that wasn’t asked.
Characters who deal with superheroes
just keep running what happened through their head
and things are as unclear to them as to
characters who deal with supervillains.
I’d ask a question about cameras.
I’d ask about photographs and paintings.
And I know Chloe would just say something
about how newspapers run on deadlines
and it would be ridiculous to wait
for a painter to compose a painting
when a breaking story is happening.
I wouldn’t even bother asking her
why she had answered that way. Once you know
the person you’re talking to is thinking
of supervillains and superheroes
I think the only way to understand
why they’re answering you the way they are
and what might be your question’s real answer
is just to run what happened through your head
again and again, the way a painter
might stand in front of a blank white canvas
just stand there staring at the empty space
or work away scribbling in a sketchbook
trying out random shapes on random shapes
until, in their head, an image takes form
that they can paint on the canvas by craft.
And I know Chloe would just say something
about how newspapers run on deadlines
and it would be ridiculous to wait
for a painter to compose a painting
when a breaking story is happening.
A camera’s a mechanical thing
and it can be something like hypnotic
watching gears turn and all the gear teeth mesh.
Who wants to watch an artist stand around
staring at a canvas, or sit around
sketching random scribbles on scratch paper?
I’ve come to suspect questions and answers
are something like a boring old art form
and we should build museums for people
who run things through their heads like gears turning
when they could be watching real gears turning.
I spend so much time lost in fantasy
that it feels strange to feel so terrified
at having slipped away for an instant
but I ask myself what if this woman
had a voice that sounded like the actress
who played “Lana Lang” and had noticed me
looking at her and had smiled and said, “Hi.”
I don’t think I’d be here typing these words.
It’s like a LuthorCorp experiment
is going on around me in real life.
And Chloe says these things never end well!
... if I never see
Miranda though I know
where to look, then I hope
Miranda won’t hate me.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Notes From France! (Victorine Meurent Update!)
Miranda’s Words And Caliban’s Music
“The Garden’s Edge”
The Application Of Beyond Understanding
“Wood Of Ancient Castles And Cathedrals”
“The Stars From Here: A Puppet Thriller”
No comments:
Post a Comment