A Cinema for

Desperate Times

I need a cinema

that brings

me to my senses.

Because it has

that power.

A cinema

that wakes me

inside itself

and reminds me

I am so much more

than I thought I was.

A cinema

that aligns my feelings

with the miracle of

the least significant

moment.

A cinema

that lets me go in

and come out…

a wide-eyed boy 

in love

with life’s pleasures

as well

as its hardships.

We need a cinema

that lets us

borrow a beautiful

face only to realize

we have our own.

A cinema

that returns me

to the world

with my love of life

and its possibilities

restored.

A cinema

that reminds us

that our suffering

is for recalibrating

our consciousness

in order to

make us whole.

I need a cinema

that atunes me

with that which is finer

because it has

merged me 

with its light.

A cinema

that causes us

to more fully accept

what we may

have once feared.

A cinema

that shows me that

if I persist in my folly

I will eventually

become wise.

A cinema

which allows us

to embrace

our own narrative

even as we know

we can step out

from under its

construction

to experience another.

We need now

more than ever

a cinema

which creates

compassion

for the other.

A cinema

for desperate times.

Peter Valentyne

January 2017