Dust Be My Destiny

poster borrowed from bing

Dust Be My Destiny

“Tempt not a desperate man.”--William Shakespeare

When I consider 

my life-long love affair 

with movies, and 

my frenetic decade of pursuing a presence within them,

I tend to tromp upon objectivity

and too often am very tempted to regard

my mere eyelash of a career as an actor,

as pivotally more substantial than it was,

my talent as Herculean,

my bad luck as baleful,

my blink-and-you-missed it movie moments

as pure apex, as achievements, 

whiling away my retirement in vivid daydreams,

imagining that there never was more than

six degrees of separation between me

and artistic cinematic success--

playing the game, getting from

Matt Damon to Lauren Bacall

Damon in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN with Harve Presnell.

Presnell in PAINT YOUR WAGON with Lee Marvin.

Marvin in THE COMANCHEROS with John Wayne.

The Duke was in BLOOD ALLEY with Lauren Bacall.

Tim Blake Nelson to Glenn Buttkus

Nelson in THE ASTRONAUT FARMER with Billy Bob Thornton.

Thornton in PRIMARY COLORS with Rob Reiner.

Reiner in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY with Jack Warden.

Warden in NIGHT AND THE CITY with Eli Wallach.

Wallach in CINDERELLA LIBERTY with Glenn Buttkus.

Tony Shalboub to Humphrey Bogart

Shalboub in MEN IN BLACK with Tommy Lee Jones.

Jones in THE BETSY with Laurence Olivier.

Olivier in SPARTACUS with Peter Ustinov.

Ustinov in WE’RE NO ANGELS with Humphrey Bogart. 

Tina Fey to Glenn Buttkus

Fey in DATE NIGHT with Steve Carell.

Carell in HOPE SPRINGS with Tommy Lee Jones.

Jones IN THE ELECTRIC MIST with Ned Beatty.

Beatty in THE DEADLY TOWER with Kurt Russell.

Russell in THE LONGEST DRIVE with Glenn Buttkus.

Ted Dawson to Charles Laughton.

Dawson in DAD with Jack Lemmon.

Lemmon in GRUMPY OLD MEN with Burgess Meredith.

Meredith in ADVISE AND CONSENT with Charles Laughton.

Warren Oates to Glenn Buttkus

Oates in MAJOR DUNDEE with Charlton Heston.

Heston in THE BUCCANEER with Lorne Greene.

Greene in EARTHQUAKE with Lloyd Nolan.

Nolan in MY BOYS ARE GOOD BOYS with Glenn Buttkus.

Dolly Parton to Tuesday Weld

Parton in RHINESTONE with Sylvester Stallone.

Stallone in COP LAND with Harvey Keitel.

Keitel in THE TWO JAKES with Eli Wallach.

Wallach in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN with Steve McQueen.

McQueen in THE CINCINATTI KID with Tuesday Weld. 

Chris Rock to Glenn Buttkus

Rock in DEATH AT A FUNERAL with Peter Dinklage.

Dinklage in THE STATION AGENT with Patricia Clarkson.

Clarkson in DOGVILLE with James Caan.

Caan in CINDERELLA LIBERTY with Glenn Buttkus.

Otto Kruger to Petulia Clark

Kruger in THE LAST COMMAND with Ernest Borgnine.

Borgnine in THE WILD BUNCH with William Holden.

Holden in SABRINA with Audrey Hepburn.

Hepburn in FUNNY FACE with Fred Astaire.

Astaire in FINIAN’S RAINBOW with Petulia Clark.

Bernie Mac to Glenn Buttkus

Mac in SOUL MEN with Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson in SUNSET LIMITED with Tommy Lee Jones.

Jones in BLOWN AWAY with Jeff Bridges.

Bridges in WINTER KILLS with Ralph Meeker.

Meeker in MY BOYS ARE GOOD BOYS with Glenn Buttkus.

I tell you if a man is desperate enough

he can visualize himself as someone significant,

even though the truth reveals him to be

first a glittering speck of dust on some

pieces of celluloid, then reduced further

to a microscopic grove-blemish

on several digital discs;

no matter--

for posterity and the imp of ego

have in fact

provided him with standing room

at the back of a low dusty shelf

over at the Internet Movie Database,

where temptations tend to be reduced

to silent whimpers, dream-drool,

and blue font. 

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets OLN

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