CINEMATIC SONNETS: Hitchcock
Psycho (1960)
The Bates Motel has got a vacancy,
And soon will have another one, I fear—
Grim Gothic venue for iniquity
(The straight-and-narrow path does not lead here).
With 40 grand she carries under wraps—
Embezzled from the job she left behind—
Poor Marion has second thoughts. Perhaps
A shower will clear her conscience and her mind.
Abnormal Norman (too attached to Mom),
Proprietor and nut-case with a blade,
Dispatches Marion without a qualm
With cuts that the director should have made.
So follow, to avoid the Karmic wrath,
The straight-and-narrow—not the Psycho—path.
Rear Window (1954)
“Jeff” Jeffries, in a wheelchair and a cast,
Becomes voyeur (what else is there to do?),
Miss Torso and Miss Lonelyheart, and—last—
Two newlyweds all passing in review.
Lars Thorwald has been acting mighty weird.
Where is his carping wife? It’s Jeffries’ thesis
The lady—who has lately disappeared—
Has been shipped out by Lars in bits and pieces.
Detective Doyle is unconvinced. Suspense!
Jeff’s Lisa, in a daring B&E,
Unearths incriminating evidence.
Lars wises up and plots new villainy.
Since “turnabout’s fair play” (an apt quotation),
His neighbors witness Jeff’s defenestration.