TWO THINGS by MARC ISAAC POTTER
Dominoes
PART 001Gerald likes to sleep with dominoes in his bed, they make him feel safe, protected. Unwisely, Gerald told one of his bar buddies, Bert, about his odd sleeping habit. Whenever they are sitting around The Joe’s Low-Dive Bar and Pantheon, Bert likes to interject - pointing to Gerald - his wife’s name is Dot. Get it? Dot! Then Bert laughs uproariously to himself, and Bert says out loud shaking his head ‘That never gets old!’
Sometimes, Bert will try to channel Jack Nicholson in Batman, while saying the phrase "That never gets old," over and over. The booth table was cluttered with peanuts, empty and half-empty glasses of beer, empty and half-empty pitchers of beer. Bert stands up from the table, quite erect, almost stiff, getting into character. He looks down at the floor and then back up, then he starts the walk to the restroom. That never gets old, he says, laughing and shaking his head.
… Sometimes - I would say that it happens not most of the time, but frequently - at this point, Gerald is thoroughly interrupted from the conversation at the table. He is watching Bert do his “thing”; once I heard Gerald say it is Bert’s “perp walk” - because someday I am going to arrest him for that shit.
Then, often, Gerald will announce that it's late, that he has work tomorrow, and that the bills are not going to pay themselves. One time, I tried to follow Gerald out of the bar, because Lucy’s sister, Tracy had called the bar phone and left Gerald a message and I had forgotten to give the message to Gerald. As I opened the back door of the bar, Gerald was just then pissing near the fence; his big black Cadillac was quietly waiting for him a few feet away.
PART 002COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS1) … The scene in which Bert is imitating Jack Nicholson - could that scene have been improved?
2) … Regarding the names of the characters, Gerald and Bert - do they need more interesting names? …
3) … The guy who goes out of the back door after Gerald (he is probably the bartender) - is anything more going on with him than just his job? For example, is it hinted that he had feelings for Gerald? If that idea - that he has feelings for Gerald - is not obvious, what slight change could be made to make that a little more present, without being overdone, overhand?
4) … Let’s please acknowledge a real person IRL: her name is Moira Ash and she often gives me ideas that make my stories better. …
5) . … While we all think that we know the meaning of Pantheon, however different dictionaries give us different shades of meaning, and shades of meaning are important. According to Google, this definition comes from “Oxford Languages” - is that the same as the OED? a) a group of particularly respected, famous, or important people."the pantheon of the all-time greats" … b) all the gods of a people or religion collectively. "the deities of the Hindu pantheon" …
6) … other dictionaries give other less interesting and more standard, common definitions. What are your thoughts about the word Pantheon?
7) … Why do you think the owner of this bar called his bar a Pantheon, and what could he possibly mean by that?
So You Write Screenplays for a Cop Show?
For Weldon Kees and Robinson1The writer is up against it. Up against the deadline.
Their daughter's third-grade theatrical play,
Son's Jai alai practice.
The dog's obedience is to be considered.
Wife's Biopsy. The Upcoming Adoption?
Mother's dementia, ever-present wheelchair,
top of the line and yet …
Their boss's vision of the cop show's future.
Our show's sacred ratings – down seven points from last week. The current topical news is to be written into each episode.
2A tall Scotch, no ice,
before or after – or before -
a milkshake, - really? A milkshake for chocolate's sake - a bad pizza.
The butchered body
strewn - parts of it anyway -
on a formerly hyper-white couch,
the Glock 9 mm.
The angle of the bullet,
hollow-point. The criminal's
Black clothing, and stealth behavior.
Their man Robinson.
Both is and is not
tiptoeing through the clues
as invisibly as a motionless wind,
as loudly as
the marshmallow’s conflagration.
Who knew?
A skilled ice-accurate assassin,
possibly Swedish.
And, alternatively,
a second murderer
a crazed purple lover.
Who knew, the two criminals
would arrive at
the victim's apartment
at exactly the same moment,
outside of time.
The paperboy,
and his red-haired sister
running from the scene...
the blood dries,
the bad pizza
crusts itself.
Scotch whiskey, then an idea, then
the Scotch egg – obliquely – Shakespearean …
3by the use of:
• speech–to–text technology
• a few iPhone apps
• a ghostwriter from their father's University Class.
• Five Spurts of Imagination
• . . . - and their fax to the ancient cop Justin Ray Needles – nicknamed Sammy: “How would you write this, Sammy?”
It all got done. The TV show did get ... written on time.
4Aftermath: The Biopsy needle, like a slow-motion ballet of their son's Jai Alai, came back out of their wife's breast, carrying its knowledge.
In the play: their daughter was both a tree, stuck at the edge of a forest, and a Queen of a great and proud people.
The dementia of their Mother, flailing and splattered. … By 5:46 pm on Friday, their screenplay was plastered into the splotchy white hand of their beckoning/coaxing boss.
Harold jumped in the little Miata that they and their wife shared, Robinson invisibly constant in the passenger seat. They took the windy way home, in time for the afterparty.
Marc Isaac Potter, aka Marc Isaax Potter (they/them) … is a differently-abled writer living in the SF Bay Area. Marc’s interests include blogging by email, producing television at kmvt15.org … and zen. They have been published in Bluepepper, Sledgehammer Lit, BOMBFIRE, Punk Noir Magazine, Provenance Journal, and have work upcoming in Levatio Journal. Their Twitter is @marcisaacpotter.