Noir

        there was always a cat, never there long enough  
to have a name   and because of that 
the more admired 
 
        there was always a woman, in a fix 
through no fault of her own   balling her fists  
like the closeup  
of street vendors pulping lemons  
 
         there was another woman, who kept a secret  

         there was an ancient servant, who burned the letters 
 
         there was always a closed coffin, and against  
the window, anthropomorphic rain   there was always  
an insect, trapped in pine sap 
a million centuries from the closing credits 
 
	  there was the day and there was not the day 
          
          there was a season called night and another season 
we had heard about, out of context  
for our characters   there were solemn curfews, there was 
a disturbance in space-time  
 
        there were seething maggots, apt as metaphor 
for the principal role miscast  
 
        there was a fish, camouflaged as a fish   there was always  
a silhouette behind the curtain   there were other  
examples, illusions 
of immortality I may have misremembered