Gas Mask Mustache
#6
(10-10-2021, 06:23 AM)Kerbonzo_beenz Wrote:  Seems fitting, got him where it hurts: stabbed him in his theater side. I almost feel bad for him.
KB, had not thought of that angle, but it's exactly right.  In addition, that they are silent films would be an additional punishment, as H. considered his voice to be his greatest weapon.

(10-10-2021, 06:34 AM)Tiger the Lion Wrote:  Enjoyed this Tim. I can't help feeling it would be stronger without mentioning his name- especially in the title. It might require a few more details, but nothing you're not capable of capturing. The name spoon feeds the reader a little. If that makes sense.
Agree on both points.  Delaying the revelation of H. would vastly improve the new ending I have in mind.  Thanks for the read and the suggestions.

(10-10-2021, 09:23 AM)Mark A Becker Wrote:  This one and "Molloy" find you veering toward prose poetry, and abruptly away from the surreal pieces offered by "Telegrammatica" and "Watt's Reply".

Not really veering.  I'm still writing The Other Stuff, but trying for one that can connect to readers.

I'm sure that yer aware that Chaplin played "Hitler" as Adenoid Hynkel" in the "Great Dictator", and apparently Hitler was a big Chaplin fan, and may have actually watched the "Great Dictator". 

I did not know Hitler was a fan of Chaplin.  Researching it, the story is he watched Great Dictator twice, both times alone.  He also loved Mickey Mouse and Gone with the Wind.  Once America entered the war, his supply of American films was cut off and the war consumed him.

That he was a tramp himself during his Vienna years adds some poignancy to his love of Chaplin's early stuff. 

There is an awful lot of telling in this piece, and it needs a lot more showing. 

I'm uncertain how to navigate the "show vs tell" dilemma.  I guess I'm wondering why "show" is by default superior to "tell".

(10-10-2021, 06:12 PM)busker Wrote:  I was expecting end rhymes, with the short, 8-11 syllable lines in the beginning
Without rhymes, I think it works better if the lines are less regular.

If the author doesn't mind, the below is closer to what I was expecting — a humorous piece to go with the sing song meter. Now the original poem is not humorous, ergo the meter needs to change 

Watching inebriate Charlie
pursued inside a revolving glass door
or as a lone prospector ambling precariously
along a precipitous Yukon floor

I can’t help but see that other gimp
with his gas mask mustache.
Where Charlie was loose limbed
with the peripatetic tramp's panache

Herr Hitler grew progressively stiff
dedicated to destruction,
yet God found an answer in Charlie's 24 fps clip,
and I dreamed that Hitler's eternal induction

in Hell would be to follow forever in Chaplin’s footsteps,
literally, stumbling through every gag
his brown uniform shabby and ill-fitting (whilst Krebs
follows behind with his colostomy bag

and a slim flexible cane), no Sieg Heils
left, only the laughter of his victims,
the Franks and Lipmans, Karlovskies and Miguels,
while from the shadows, one of them kicks him,

dictating nothing but the absurd,
and for dinner, turds.
Thanks Busker for the suggestion on structure.  I think I'm hopeless when it comes to rhyme, but I'll test drive it.  Enjoyed your rewrite and I think you are showing me how to show not tell.  I need to work on that.
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Messages In This Thread
Gas Mask Mustache - by TranquillityBase - 10-10-2021, 06:12 AM
RE: Hitler in Hell - by Kerbonzo_beenz - 10-10-2021, 06:23 AM
RE: Hitler in Hell - by TranquillityBase - 10-10-2021, 10:17 PM
RE: Hitler in Hell - by Tiger the Lion - 10-10-2021, 06:34 AM
RE: Hitler in Hell - by Mark A Becker - 10-10-2021, 09:23 AM
RE: Hitler in Hell - by busker - 10-10-2021, 06:12 PM



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