Shooting Star
In every nowhere town, there are somewhere dreams - Ron Sexsmith
My unlikely life lands me here,
in this urban oasis for senior adults
as it landed me in other unforeseen spots
through ages and changes a small girl
tucked away in a small town could not
have imagined — though I always knew
I would not stay, knew there were other
‘somewheres’ (maybe over rainbows);
saw them every small-town Saturday night
on the silver screen.
How unlikely my life would come to be,
who could see? Is it the same for all?
We follow our changeable hearts, our
headstrong wills — to eventual compassion
for the actor who is us. We navigate
old rutted roads, confusing cloverleafs,
narrow box canyons from whence we one day
look up: our lives, burning meteors, flash across
the sky, a brief but unforgettable appearance
on the silver screen.
Sheila Rosen
November 26, 2019
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Small town, Greenwood, BC, where once a week a movie was shown in the Jewel Theatre. I think these reels - mostly B-movies - were on a circuit from town to town. Every Saturday night, we went to see the movie, a lot of westerns, musicals, romances — seldom what you’d call a first rate movie. It was pretty much the only show in town - in fact that’s what we called it, as in ‘I’ll see you at the show’ or ‘I’m going to the show.’
There was a 7 and a 9pm. Teens and kids went to the early show. Once when Song of Bernadette was on, my friends and I were so taken with it we stayed for the second show and got in trouble for coming home late.
I don’t know how much these movies formed and influenced my thinking re the intersection of cultures, romantic love, a musical/artistic life, etc. — but maybe more than I realized. Interestingly, on the cross-cultural note, Greenwood was a mostly Japanese community, (re Japanese evacuation from BC coast 1943) and we all went to “the show” and saw these movies together and loved them.
I think (hope) I’ve become a bit more discerning in my tastes in film as I’ve grown up and away from my dear small town and it’s ages now since I’ve gone to a “show” in a movie theatre. But I still love the idea of settling into the row of seats with friends, family — and then the dark and then the whole other world coming to life on the screen and taking you, all of you together, for that little while out of your own lives.
