by Larry Brody
NOTE FROM LB:
Meetings are the not only of writers but of everyone in showbiz who actually wants to get something accomplished…which means anyone but executives because whenever they do what it is they do they’re taking the risk of having the result backfire and kicking them out of a job. The following poem, however, is about a meeting I had where I truly learned something from a great man. Ah, those were the days!
Lunching With The Dragon
“This isn’t real, you know.” We sit in a Japanese
Restaurant in Brentwood, and the producer taps
The table between us. I’ve just presented my
Idea to him, and await an answer that
Means paying my mortgage or no.
“This isn’t really a table,” he says.
“And the walls aren’t really walls.
This isn’t really a Japanese Restaurant,
And you and I aren’t even people.
We’re just energy, is all.”
The producer leans forward with his sake.
“We perceive reality the way we want to.
We make ourselves physical,
And give things meaningless names.”
Chopsticked noodles vanish into
His mouth. “If you and I were to refuse to believe”
In this table,” he announces, “it would vanish in a
Shot. So would my yakisoba,
And your tonkatsu, and our rice.”
The producer leans back. “I go along with it,”
He says proudly, “Only because of the effort
It would take to fight. Besides, rocking the
Boat is something we both know is wrong.”
The producer downs the rest if his sake,
Washes it away with Green tea.
I never hear from him about my idea
Or anything else again. It’s okay.
I know I’ve had lunch with a great and powerful
Dragon. That’s the reality to me.
Larry Brody is the head dood at TVWriter™. He is posting at least one poem a week here at TVWriter™ because, as the Navajo Dog herself once pointed out, “Art has to be free. If you create it for money, you lose your vision, and yourself.” She said it shorter, though, with just a snort.
