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CLEO 5 TO 7      Agnés Varda, 1962, 90 mins


a woman feels her own fate with her whole being, cards or no cards

however, the cards are the Empress, the Hanged Man, and the Tower, and you suddenly realize the curious accident of living

on the day you die it won’t matter if you are wearing a beautiful felt hat with a nice angle if it is in the wrong season

it won’t matter that the weatherman predicted rain, but you got some dappled sun and some wispy clouds instead

the calendar days will keep count without your red kisses to mark their passing

the news anchor will have reports about museums, wars, engines, politicians, parachutes, celebrities, avalanches. someone will finish a painting

you might have once sung a song while someone else played a piano and that song might have ended up on a radio in Walla Walla

you might have written a poem and then read that poem to the person you love and they sorta liked it

you could have had a daughter in another life

similar things are happening everywhere in different time zones to other people

the Mallard in the nearby pond might not know you even exist

but you still throw him little bits of bread in the water from time to time

Catherine Bresner

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