Termite Art
The Muse’s gun is pointed at my face.
This gangland terminology again!
Shouldn’t we case the joint first? —WRITE she says.
The page stays blank under my crapped-out pen.
—Try something else, like starting with a verb
at the top of each line, she says, her breath
metallic on my shoulder. —I need bourbon,
I say. The muzzle presses on my neck.
To fence, to fink, to finish? What the hell
do I know from Chicago Lightning? —WRITE.
All right, I’ll write. —And while you’re at it, tell
about the one they shot—in black and white
and in a single take. The drop without
the payoff—what this poem is about.
© 2011 Katherine Williams
This sonnet compares workshop anxiety to the film noir movie Gun Crazy. “Termite Art” is a term coined by artist and critic Manny Farber that has come to be associated with film noir. “Chicago Lightning” is slang for arson.
The author gratefully acknowledges publication of “Termite Art” in Projector 3
