The City After The Storm Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

In the silent movies, a girl will smile slowly
And the camera will linger as we fall in love:
She will glow and the vision will shimmer
[The results it seems of rubbing Vaseline
On the lens or optical flat sitting before it,
Suitably and softly lit by subtle chiaroscuro,
Aided by skilfully-caked theatrical make-up].

Being a person at the mercy of illusion
Especially of wiles and ethereal pretence,
Easily captivated by gloss and halalation,
Artifice or not, I am hopelessly smitten..

Cue camera action: the object of obsession
Daubed with sunlight bewitches the scene
Setting herself in a steady gaze that turns
Slowly to amusement at devotees' sighs
Her tumultuous wayward storms now past
The tantrums of the dressing room forsaken
Her presence haloed hauntingly with glamour.