Reinventing the Life of a Poet in the Modern World

Poems in Pop Culture: Sea of Love

WhPart of my coronavirus routine is watching old movies from the 1980s in an attempt to crawl back into my childhood. Don't ask. 

In any case, I watched one of my old favorites a few weeks ago, Sea of Love, only to discover I like it a lot LESS now, (as opposed to Tootsie, the closing scene of which reminded me of Sea of Love in the first place). I find it so much less sexy now. Although I still like Al Pacino, I'm much less affected by his sad, puppy-dog shtick and the whole story feels much seedier and ickier post #metoo (unlike Tootsie which held up recently at a Netflix movie party with a group of women I know).

But anyways….there's a poem scene in it! I had no memory of this.

In the movie, the cops are under the mistaken impression that the killer is a woman who loves poetry in her want ads. So they go to Frank Keller's (Al Pacino) apartment to try to write a poem to entice the murderer. Al Pacino's father, played by William Hickey, comes up with a gem his deceased wife once wrote in high school. The cops are dumbfounded and use this poem in their ad.

Lady—I live alone within myself
like a hut within the woods.
I keep my heart high upon a shelf
barren of other goods.
I need another’s arms to reach for it
and place it where it belongs.
I need another’s touch and smile
to fill my hut with songs.
I remain–

A single, white, male, 42, NYW
POB 233

Puppy-dogWatch the scene

2 Comments

  1. Eddie Walsh

    Not too many words ever spoken on film ever touched my heart there, as the late great
    William”Bill”Hickey in Sea of Love
    A well respected artist/teacher among the NYC acting community

  2. N

    Awesome poem. Best part of a good movie. Forget “Prizzi’s Honor”…this is Hickey GOLD right here. 👍

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