From the Archives : Les Miz (2016)

Everybody’s a critic

when it comes

to the Revolution.

Some sing the chorus

up on barricades

while others take aim

to make them stop.

That’s when the scene

of the very first shot

they shot is shot

and the day’s a wrap

for those lucky

to have died.

After which, things

will quiet down

for the friends

we’ll never meet.

Dear friends: no matter

what they will

have pointed at us,

done with and

to us, no one will

say we didn’t

look damned good

doing whatever

it is we were

doing a l'ère

du grand

écran.

Though the times

must needs

recast us, rolled over

in their greater

sleep — to fashion

of our lives

history, to remodel

our homes into

the glamorous flats

of pilots — ace debonaires

with prudence enough

to know when

to quit, hang up

the hopeless conflict

and go nurse

the dry martinis

they left sweating

at the bar.