If this were a movie,
we'd think
we've been shortchanged.
And no wonder:
the storyline's
meandering; the moral
won't cohere. But
though we're alone in this
cavernous theater,
and no one
would be the wiser,
the reason
we haven't yet
gotten up and left
is simply because
we can't—at least,
not the we
that we think of
as us.
See, somewhere between
the start of the picture
and this particular
maddening scene,
we've failed to notice
that the plot
doesn't matter.
As long as we're here
to watch it progress,
this life,
by necessity, must
be bereft
not only of a happy
or ambivalent ending—
but any
ending all-together.
