By J.J. Tindall
DREAM DIARY
I was an extra
in the new Batman movie
along with Amy Sedaris,
and we were filming a scene
in the rain near Wayne Manor
(a Mock Tudor mansion in West
Humboldt Park, south of Fullerton)
featuring Benicio del Toro.
The Joker made an appearance
and the papparazzi turned out to be
his crew of henchmen
turning their cameras into guns.
Then there was a scene in which
the Joker, and older Hispanic man,
and his main henchmen –
including Benny made up as Mr. Hyde –
met around a table. Then, after the shoot,
we went to Benny’s large, old Victorian
house near the scene location,
where he was living with
a couple of Hispanic dudes.
“You could live your whole life
on the West Side,”
Benny said. One dude was applying cocaine
from a small, wax paper packet to wounds
on the bald head of the other dude
who’d been beaten by police.
Something had gone wrong with their
inside coverage.
Then Benny took me up to the roof
and we got into his ’60s convertible.
He drove us around the roof,
getting closer and closer
to the edge.
Finally, he drove us off the third story
onto the yard below.
I braced for my stomach to drop
but it didn’t happen,
and we landed safely,
back-end first.
Then Amy was on her bike
getting ready to leave
and we made out.
I wanted to go back
to Wayne Manor so
I would remember
where it was . . .
–
J. J. Tindall is the Beachwood’s poet-in-residence. He can reached at jjtindall@yahoo.com. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.
Posted on April 13, 2009