Meet Marlowe Poem by Michael Pruchnicki

Can you imagine reading between the lions?
A novel by Chandler and paintings by Hopper
set the theme of big city angst and anomie
in sparse language and cinematic images

I checked through The Big Sleep -
He sat behind a desk, a middle-aged plump
man with clear blue eyes
He puffed evenly and stared at me level-eyed,
a funny little hard guy
His neat well-kept face looked as if it had been shaved
within the hour
A small man in a big man's world
He looked ready for a fight

Then I looked at paintings by Edward Hopper -
Night Shadows
Nighthawks
Night Windows
Room in New York
Empty Room
Automat

Finally, a Movie and Video Guide -
The Big Sleep (1946) 114 minutes
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Regis Toomey,
Bob Steele, Elisha Cook / directed by Howard Hawks
script by William Faulkner

I read the novel, rented the movie,
and went downtown to view an exhibit
of paintings by Hopper at the Art Institute,
the building between the lions!