Ode to Film Noir

BY JOEL GIROUX

A man is stumbling down a street in black and white.

There is a darkness both inside him and out,

flattening the perfect circle of his world with its wet.

He remembers he traded the love of his life

for someone who laughs through rings of smoke.

He followed a brilliant plot before, but lost it

hunting for a shortcut he’d been told was better,

easier; flush with money, life and colour—

a twisted, restless line draws him into

the grievous frame he’s trapped in now.

Gasping for a way out, his hands shaking, his gun

too heavy to grip; it drops to the ground

with the clicking sound of high heels briskly walking

in time with his falling body, now bleeding

into the pavement, now shadowed by a shape-shifting moon.

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JOEL GIROUX taught at George Brown College for 10 years. His chapbook of poems, Larger Than Still Life, was published by believe your own press in 2003.