Thirty years ago, a young up-and-coming actor, Craig Wasson, starred in Ghost Story, a beautifully-shot adaptation of the Peter Straub horror novel. The film was very well received critically, not least because of the casting of several elderly classic actors, including Fred Astaire. I recall it being very new England; and a scene on a wintry country road. It was like Frost meets King. I think this film has become forgotten; it is not available on DVD in Britain, at the very least. Googling for Wasson, I was disappointed to learn that, after 1984's Body Double (which has a Frankie Goes to Hollywood cameo) he mostly slipped into soaps, and one-off appearances on TV. Wasson was born in 1954, so he'd be around 57 now. I'd like to see some director bring him back and give him a good role again.
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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