The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
BY Ace Boggess
Columbia Pictures,
Morningside Productions, 1958
What I keep: the way he laughs, lighthearted, preserves a grin in the madness hour,
as he glides through jags of reef,
as he fights fantastic beasts & dark magic,
when his friends die (as they always do).
I know, I know: just some white guy
playing the part of an Arab hero, &
his outfits look less Persian than, say,
a reveler’s at a high-school’s costume ball.
It’s a story, after all, & like all stories
harbors hope for freedom, passion,
overcoming—a hope for further hope.
The Captain enters each adventure
as we, watchers in a darkened room,
enter ours, through vast extrapolations
from our bills to pay, angry bosses,
flat tires, lovers not so loving anymore.
The toys we played with as children
broke, left us with a mess of scraps.
We let our laughter be erased by this.
That’s why we go to the movies:
to imagine what we lost, now lack,
like Sinbad’s smile amidst tragedy
which remains the greatest weapon
any man could have or ever want.
Ace Boggess is author of two books of poems: The Prisoners (Brick Road
Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled
(Highwire Press: 2003). His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Notre
Dame Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Rattle, River Styx, and many other
journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.