As The Guardian observes today, Joe Mantell, sadly, has died. As they also note, for a little-known character actor, he got to say some very famous movie lines. Arguably, his "forget it Jake, it's Chinatown" is the greatest last line of any film, barring perhaps "I am having an old friend for dinner" and "Nobody's perfect", so he was lucky - but also talented, he imbued that brief sentiment with so much ambiguous darkness it carries a whole social vision of hell on earth with it.
A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.
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