Dear readers — yikes! Can it be done?
Can we, at last, leave '21?
A year in which, for months on end,
The movies closed: we'd lost a friend.
We sat at home and streamed and dreamt
And tried to not get too verklempt
'Til summer when, for one brief burst,
We got to slake our movie thirst.
And since then, well, as you can see
We're not quite where we'd like to be.
The movies opened, with great care
But some of us just can't be there.
And so we wait — but, to keep sane,
Some old traditions must remain.
So worry not, 'cause I'm still here
To rhyme a partial movie year!
A year that brought old friends anew:
Look: Spider-Man and MJ, too!
Black Widow's origins filled a screen
And "Matrix" — hey, where's Neo been?
The Rock in "Jungle Cruise" was fine
But still I missed him in "F9."
"Shang-Chi" with his 10 rings was strong
"Eternals" felt a bit too long.
In "House of Gucci" Leto hammed,
In "Nightmare Alley" Cooper scammed.
We went Down Under for "The Dry"
And "Spencer" brought back Princess Di.
"Cruella" showed off knockout frocks;
"The Tender Bar" served Scotch on rocks.
"King Richard" took us to the courts
And let Will Smith emote in shorts.
"Dune" returned, in deserts dry,
"Belfast" left me moist of eye,
Kidman took on Lucille Ball,
"A Quiet Place" made my skin crawl.
In musicals, we saw the sights
Of "Tick Tick Boom!" and "In the Heights,"
And reveled in the dancey glory
Of Spielberg's whirling "West Side Story."
Also good, as you'd suspect:
J-Hud's Aretha in 'Respect."
And just before this month did go,
Hello, "Macbeth" and "Cyrano"!
It wasn't quite a year of plenty —
But hey, at least it wasn't '20.
Our screens this year gave us a place
To see an unmasked stranger's face.
And though we may have watched from home
Great movies let our spirits roam,
And made the year seem less a slog
(I did love "Power of the Dog").
So let's look out, with eyes anew
At what's ahead for '22.
As futures go, it isn't shabby:
"Black Panther 2" AND "Downton Abbey"!
Now as this verse must fold its cloak
(I really need a Diet Coke)
To all I send much hope and cheer —
Happy New Year, readers dear!
_____
With apologies and respect to Roger Angell, whose annual "Greetings, Friends!" poems in The New Yorker inspired my yearly foray into verse.
