RIP Roger

[champagne1982]

The ratchet of a finished reel clucks urgent taps
to an acne-blotched projectionist, a pimply youth
who sucks free soda through a plastic straw.
Melted flashes of a burning film flickers on this screen
to yet another absent audience. On every aisle an empty seat
is saved for Siskel's shade. If the critic's ushered in,
I'll pretend to wait for his thumb's up or down,
but here, outside of Hollywood, no one really cares.​

I just learned today that I will need to save another aisle seat as Siskell's shade no longer sits alone. His long time partner in movie critique and review, as of April 4th, has joined him. May you always watch a show you can give a "thumbs up" to, Mr. Ebert.

 

[Angeline]

I'll second that. I always thought of him as a true man of letter and, in his own way, a poet. There was poetry in a lot of what he wrote.

I'll miss him. He was a good person: that always came across so clearly;

RIP