You Don't Know Jack !

Let me digress. Let me take a side trail along this poetry path I've started down. There is a picture on my office wall of actor Jack Palance and me. It was 2004 at the Festival of the West in Scottsdale, AZ. We are both smiling. Me, because I'm glad to have met this icon. Him, because our interview is over and he can get back to selling pictures and books. Prior to our interview, I did some research because I wanted to ask him questions that he never gets asked. I wanted him to talk about the sort of things that inspired him without coming off like a trite reporter. Then, this poem came to mind and I titled it with a phrase that I'd heard directed at me more than once. It seemed to fit.



You don’t know Jack!

Jack?
I know Jack -
have for years.
Two dimensional
unless you count emotion.
Mostly mad but with passion.
Snickering shooter in Shane
Double-crossed Heavyweight
Imposing Icon for City Slickers
Always tall, Raspy drawl
Impressions all from celluloid.

An American Comedy Award?
Not the Jack I know.
Action, Adventure, Monsters and Mayhem
Killer, Thriller, War and Westerns
That’s the Jack I know.
Who would have thought?
Multi-dimensional, Multi-colored
not merely grayscale.
Who would have thought?
A painter, A poet
“The Forest of Love”
expressing His emotion
not verbalizing another’s words.
Jack?
I thought I knew Jack
but for years
I only saw the shell.

Jeff Hildebrandt copyright 2004