Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CHAPLINADE, SELECTION, by CLAIRE STUDER-GOLL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CHAPLINADE, SELECTION, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Kings and I - we are only posters
Last Line: The wall. Obedient to his destiny, charlie smiles.)
Alternate Author Name(s): Goll, Claire
Subject(s): Chaplin, Charlie (1889-1977); Posters


(The scene opens with a poster-man covering a large billboard with colored
posters. The central one pictures Charlie Chaplin, in familiar costume, smiling.
As the man walks off Charlie comes to life in the poster; he steps down and
speaks:)

Kings and I—we are only posters
Baubles for the Great Public's fun
Smiles from picture-papers and postal cards
Smile—even in war time—smile
To eternity!
Am I the devil of war widows and bank cashiers?
The god of the suburbs and the middle class?
O my Buddhic endurance: who will comprehend?
I have regained for men what they have lost through the ages,
I have restored to them the jewel of their soul: Laughter!
And still I am the loneliest of men!

... (Charlie thinks, scratches himself, and writes the following poem,
which appears in large letters on the screen:)

The first bird
Fallen into my heart
Sang airs from Aïda
On a violet violin!
It was five o'clock
It sang five hundred thousand hours
Then Constable Sun
Killed it near my window:
A golden ball
Fell into my heart! ...

At this moment I am smiling in all the movies of the world
Every village is doubled over, seeing me smile
And yet how sad I am
A thousand windows think of me
But there is one still shining
Behind that window my mother waits the mailman
For twenty years she has waited for a letter.
There is one soul in Europe
Who has never gone to the movies
Who never saw me, who does not know me
And yet, she alone knows what my smile amounts to
I smile. I smile. ...

(The bill-poster appears, takes Charlie by the neck, and pastes him back on
the wall. Obedient to his destiny, Charlie smiles.)





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