A Director

.

                                 …out of lavender-blue soft
 
                                                    North
 
                                                         the night sky
                    and raining     wealth

into the expansive                                   
southern    warmth                                                     
of mogul California              

Pahn has                                                                     
rented Quentin’s other house                     
while making a film

On the lawn                                                                    
coming from the pool                             
wearing only a towel                    

the nanny dances                                                    

always turning away
when she shows her breasts                            
again   and again                                   
to the dawn wind

Upstairs
                 the dining room
                               has light purple walls
                                        with pale green recesses
                   wood trim   and neo-medieval lamps

The effect
                     is Waldorf-Gothic
     clean
           rich        and Pahn likes it
even though it is foreign to him       and it   
                                                      reminds him
that he can’t always anticipate
something that might exist
                               before he sees it

In the bedrooms                                                            
under the thick quilts                                               
Quentin                                                                        
has left his children                                

Now he comes home                                                     
with a friend                                         
saying

“Leave it to me to forget my kids”…

…Outside                                                                          
in the low stratus dawn                                
with the surf                                        
echoing off             
                         the cloud ceiling

Pahn is scouting the first scene                                  
            in which
the man        washes up on the beach                        

half dead                                             

Pahn walks into the waves                                             
to see if it is safe                                                 
to shoot this                                                
in a rough sea               

pretending to be                half-conscious           
                   limp
              floating
in the spritzing foam                        
pushed                                        
into the sand             
and shells          
the gravel                                       
sliding into his trunks
deposited on the shore           
he sinks slowly                                   
back                                                                    
into the brine          silica            oxygen          
edge