a poem for irvin kershner
On November 27th, 2010, Irvin Kershner, the director of Stars Wars The Empire Strikes Back, I apparently wrote this little poem in a notebook. I found it over the weekend, and I thought I would share it with you.irvin kershner died today:
& two suns did not set in the sky
nor did an r2 unit fix the hyper drive.
a falcon's wanderlust did not call,
the snow on hoth dare not fall.
in silence cloud city gave a pause
and even wampas mourned into their claws.
rest at ease as we cry,
he who taught us you do or do not,
there is no try.
I met him once. When ESB was rereleased, I was in school at Ole Miss. The nearest THX certified theater was at Trinity Commons up in Memphis, so my friends and I drove up for opening night. When we walked into the theater, five rows in the middle were roped off, and there was a single, solitary old couple sitting in the middle. We had no idea who they were, until the theater manager came out and introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Kershner. He was in town to speak at some film conference or something like that, and decided to see his movie that night at the same theater as us for the same reasons. Seeing Empire with the man who made it, there are no words. That movie is so dear to me. It was one of the first movies I ever connected with, and when my family moved to Mexico when I was in 8th grade, it was the one movie my mom and I watched just about every weekend together. It was our thing. I got to tell Mr. Kershner all this in a blubbery gushing in the lobby of the theater. He thanked me for coming and asked me if I wanted anything autographed. I had nothing on me, so I had him sign the back of my driver's license. He gave me a strange look and signed away. I called mom when I got home and she just laughed and laughed. When she died summer before last, I decided to bury that license with her ashes, just as a little something of us to take with her. Your little poem here has brought back a lot of really happy memories. Thank you for this.
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