Fort Worden: Recreation and Theatre, Bldg. 409
Fort Worden: Recreation and Theatre, Bldg. 409
In the building where before
Munitions were stored
I was given permission
To screen films
I was an actor before the draft
Small roles
An agent told me
I didn’t have the face for it
But that was why I got cast
I wasn’t good enough
Looking to distract
From the leading man
The films came in canisters
Just like shells
And I loaded them the same way
Evenings the privates would come
Walking up from barracks
Pomaded and solemn
Like children who know
They’re about to hear a story
I watched them
Take their seats and prepare
To do what the living do
Which is to watch
The dead laugh
I was the only one who didn’t
Forget where I was
Because I was staring down
The dusty barrel of light
Right on target
Those would have been the nights
They could have landed
And overwhelmed us
While we sat in the dark
Light on our faces like that
Of distant explosions
But the war was over
And the sea as empty
As the screen would be after
Everyone had left
And I was left alone
To wind the reel back
To the flickering beginning