Stalker (1979) Out of a catastrophic and troubled production, involving re-shoots due to loss of footage, Andrei Tarkovsky , under the pretext of making a science fiction film, documented the deteriorating state of the Soviet Union. In this quest film, the Writer and the Scientist hire the Stalker to take them into the Zone that grants wishes of anyone who steps inside. Because the outdoor sequences were filmed beneath a hydroelectric station, in an area where a chemical plant was spilling poisonous liquids into the water, cast and crew became very ill.
When in the Zone, time itself stills,
seems to stop. Or so it seems,
as if there had to be a center
in what is a an ellipsis.
The stalker asks that you look,
however unbearable. Or so it seems,
for there is nothing there
that wasn’t there before.
Decay takes longer
than the pines. Or so it seems,
scattered mint sheathes,
arrayed, dressing the base.
The dog and the poem
are reflected. Or so it seems,
skittish across an ovoid melt
from rotten ice.
A statistician enumerates
futures. Or so it seems,
for the scientist of history
avows faith in what repeats.
The there is not there unless seen,
and shared. Or so it seems,
evaporation invisible
except as traces of erosion.
Imperceptible to the human eye,
Mutability. Or so it seems,
continental land plates
drift over inimical magma.
And a glass of ice water
moves across the table
to the vibrations
of a passing train.
[Disposable Poem November 24, 2016]
Thanksgiving
Dr. Mike
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