Tag Archives: Heath Ledger

Iconic [Free Verse]

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Bruce Lee statue by Cao Chong-En located on the Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Everyone gets to be a person,
   Few become icons:

 What is it to have a lasting 
      image more well-known 
          than one's work? 

 Che Guevara, Bruce Lee,
    Heath Ledger's Joker -- 

 Images you can find on 
   back-alley walls from Lagos
   to Prague to Kochi
   to Seoul to Santiago
       and back again. 

Seen day-after-day by people
   who never saw Enter the Dragon
   or read of the Cuban Revolution,
   or saw Nolan's Batman Trilogy,
      but they know the faces. 

They have thoughts about them
      -- and, sometimes, strong feelings --
   just like so many people have 
   thoughts about Alexander the Great 
       based solely on his name
       and a rough impression of history.

What must this be...
    blessing or curse ...
       if icons had some way to care?

Saint Chaos [Senryū]

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Kathmandu backstreet:
 at alley's end, grins Joker --
  global chaos face.

POEM: Joker, or: Disruptive Forces

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Among the brick rubble, down a side street from the temples encased in spiky, cuboid scaffolds, next to a bulging wall bolstered by beams knocked in at a slant, someone painted this graffiti of Heath Ledger’s Joker.

I stare at the maniacal face and can’t help but wonder whether someone painted it in the seven years between Ledger’s portrayal and the 2015 earthquake that broke Bhaktapur, or whether it’s a commentary on disruptive forces.