During the 14 years we've published this column we've shown you many fine short poems, and the newspapers that print our weekly selections like it that we don't take up too much of their "news hole."

I thought this week it might be good to show you a haiku, which as you know is a Japanese form that tries to capture life in a spark-like flash. This one is by Lori Becherer of Millstadt, Illinois, and I found it in a 2017 issue of Modern Haiku. There's a great deal of life, and of life's end, in these eight words.

no more dandruff

no more dandruff
on his blue suit
open casket


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2017 by Lori Becherer, "no more dandruff," from Modern Haiku, (Summer, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Lori Becherer and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2019 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

‘THE KITCHEN’ (Rated R)

The empowerment of women in the crime business is hardly a new premise, and the gritty, female-driven mob drama “The Kitchen,” with strong leading characters, doesn’t break a lot of new ground.

Only a year ago, Sandra Bullock assembled a female team for a stylish robbery of an art museum in “Ocean’s 8,” and “Widows” followed wives executing a heist after their husbands were killed in a botched getaway.

Sophisticated illicit behavior is not what is in store when mob wives in “The Kitchen” take a criminal enterprise into their own hands after their not-so-bright husbands are caught robbing a liquor store.

The setting is 1978 New York City, when Times Square, far from the global attraction it is now, was seedy and dangerous, where drug dealers and prostitutes roamed freely in an area populated with sex shops and peep shows.

The grittiness of that era overran the nearby neighborhood of midtown Manhattan known as Hell’s Kitchen, a bastion of working-class Irish-Americans in a place that later on succumbed to inevitable gentrification.

The Irish thugs in Hell’s Kitchen were obviously not Rhodes scholars. Kevin O’Carroll (James Badge Dale), Jimmy Brennan (Bryan D’Arcy James) and Rob Walsh (Jeremy Bobb) get caught in an ill-conceived holdup.

Working for Irish gang boss Little Jackie (Myk Watford), the foot soldiers for the mob had been under surveillance by an FBI crew run by agent Gary Silvers (Common).

When Kevin, Jimmy and Rob are sent to prison, their respective wives Ruby (Tiffany Haddish), Kathy (Melissa McCarthy) and Claire (Elisabeth Moss) expect that the gang leader will provide for their welfare as loyal spouses.

No such luck is forthcoming from the odious Little Jackie, who shorts their take to the extent that the wives don’t even get enough to pay the rent, let alone put food on the table.

The situation is no better with the Irish mob matriarch Helen O’Carroll (Margo Martindale), a nasty racist who despises the fact that her son Kevin had the audacity to marry a black woman.

The absence of financial support and inability to find gainful employment is a big problem for the ladies, especially for Kathy who has two small children to feed and clothe.

Ruby prods the other two desperate housewives to seize an opportunity to fill a void created by the incapacity of their husbands to provide protection to local businesses they had long subjected to extortion.

But Kathy and Claire, though facing dire circumstances, are not so easily convinced to make a risky move that would inevitably lead to getting on the wrong side of Little Jackie’s hair-trigger temper.

Albeit grudgingly, Kathy realizes the need to take care of her family, and Claire, who has been scarred by the emotional and physical abuse of her vicious spouse, slowly comes around to gaining some self-respect.

In short order, the three women take Hell’s Kitchen by storm, offering better deals and superior protection to the businesses, aided by the fact they poached on some of Little Jackie’s crew for the muscle needed to help their clients.

Their seemingly effortless success as enforcers is readily apparent when counting such large piles of cash that they can’t even keep track of this new revenue stream.

It’s almost surprising that they are not immediately buying furs and expensive jewelry, although they start wearing nicer apparel, and Claire wonders if they should dress up for a sit-down with a rival gang.

Getting deeper into the criminal world proves to be liberating as well as transformative for the women. They soon exhibit brutally violent tendencies that hardly set them apart their male counterparts.

The ladies get some extra help from hitman Gabriel O’Malley (Domhnall Gleeson), who has been on sabbatical outside the city but has not lost his touch on how to dismember his victims for easier disposal in the Hudson River.

Brooklyn-based Italian mob boss Alfonso Coretti (Bill Camp) is so intrigued by the aggression and business sense that Kathy, Ruby and Claire display that he offers a partnership deal they can either accept or reject at their own peril.

Destructive behavior is on full display when the ladies shake down a group of Hassidic Jews to use their approved construction workers on a major development project. The lone holdout meets a fatal end.

Things get really dicey when the husbands are released early from prison and think that they should shove the women aside and take back what they consider their rightful positions within the mob.

Conflict becomes unavoidable, leading to some double-crosses, surprising twists and brutal retributions. Ugliness is no surprise when one of the women has no qualms about dismembering dead victims in a bathtub.

While the female leads deliver good performances, the film is a thinly-drawn generic gangster movie that fails to make the women entirely convincing as criminals.

In the final analysis, “The Kitchen,” although it nicely captures the period details of a decaying metropolis, proves to be a crime story that is equally predictable and yet not credible.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Symphony's Chamber Orchestra will play Baroque music on Sunday, Aug. 18, at 2 p.m. at the Soper Reese Theatre in Lakeport.

This concert will have open seating along with tables set up in “Night Club" style. There will not be a discounted open rehearsal performance for this concert. Tickets are $15 for adults with no charge for those under 18.

A chamber orchestra is a smaller group of musicians which, during the Baroque period (1600-1750), would often perform at peoples’ homes and in smaller venues.

The concerto and the sonata were new styles at that time, pioneered by Bach, Vivaldi and Handel.

Much of what we know as “Baroque” originated in Italy, including the cantata, concerto, sonata, oratorio, and opera and uses contrast as a dramatic element.

Music for this concert will include “Serenade in D” by Wolfgang Mozart. Although he is an early classical composer, this piece was written in the Concertino-Ripieno style which was popular in the Baroque era in which a smaller group of virtuoso instrumentalists (Concertino) plays in contrast to the larger group (Ripieno).

The soloists in the “Concertino” group are Andi Skelton and Sue Condit, violins; Jeff Ives, viola; and John Weeks, cello.

Another selection by Austrian classical composer Franz Joseph Haydn is Trumpet Concerto in E Flat, and features local musician and symphony member Gary Miller as soloist.

Beth Aiken, another longtime member of the symphony, will be soloist for the “Oboe Concerto in B Flat Major” by German-born English composer George Frideric Handel.

The orchestra will also play Symphony No. 5 by Baroque English composer William Boyce. It is in the three-movement format that was popular in the Baroque era before the four-movement symphony of the classical era.

The program will also include the familiar “Entrance of the Queen of Sheba,” the Sinfonia” that opens Act 3 of Handel’s Oratorio “Solomon.” It is a bright and sprightly orchestra piece featuring two oboes and strings. This piece has often been used outside the context of the oratorios as a processional piece, as when it was featured at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport.

Tickets may be purchased at www.soperreesetheatre.com or by phone at 707-263-0577.

Tickets will be available the day of the performance two hours before show time.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center announces its upcoming fourth wildfire commemorative exhibit “All That Is Now.”

This year, the MAC has invited artists from all over the Northern California region to participate with work that explores the breadth of the wildfire experience, its aftermath, ongoing recovery, and the acceptance of what Is now.

There is still time to submit work. The exhibit will open with a reception on Friday, Sept. 13, from 6 to 9 p.m. and runs through mid-November.

Each year since the devastating Valley fire of 2015, the MAC has hosted a commemorative exhibit and poetry reading to honor our collective experience, memorialize loss, and celebrate our healing.

About half of MAC's 60 affiliated artists at the time lost their homes and studios or place of work in the Fire.

The Valley fire of 2015 still burns in the fabric of everyday life in south Lake County, and that loss is reinforced each year with more fires.

Since 2012, more than 50 percent of Lake County has burned, and Lake County shares the wildfire experience with communities throughout the region.

“Making and viewing art has the capacity to heal and reframe trauma by giving expression to the experience through materials, color, and form,” said Lisa Kaplan, director of the MAC. “We are honored that artists from neighboring counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Butte and the rest of California are submitting work. We continue to encourage artists who have responded to the experience in their work to join us for what is sure to be a very compelling exhibit.”

Artist submissions close on Wednesday, Aug. 21, with accepted work delivered to the MAC on Monday, Sept. 9.

For information on how to submit, visit www.middletownartcenter.org/artists.

Samples of work from previous commemorative fire exhibits at MAC can be viewed at www.middletownartcenter.org/exhibits.

Middletown Art Center is an arts nonprofit located at 21456 State Highway 175 at the junction of Highway 29 in the heart of Middletown.

To stay up to date on classes, exhibits and events, and support this valuable Lake County arts and culture resource visit www.middletownartcenter.org.

There are so many delightful poems by Faith Shearin that it can be difficult to select just one to show you.

This one is from her sixth book, “Darwin's Daughter,” published in 2017 by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. Faith Shearin lives in West Virginia.

Blue Elvis

It was August 1977 when Elvis Presley fell
face down on his Graceland bathroom floor;
by the time paramedics arrived, he was

cold and blue. I knew this because I was with
my grandmother, Belle, who called her sister,
Geraldine, who came over at once so we

could watch the news. My grandmother knew
Elvis liked peanut butter on white bread
with American cheese, eaten in his jungle room

which had Tiki chairs, fur lampshades,
a waterfall. Other neighbors arrived:
women in short skirts, women who

brought with them more of the food Elvis
loved: coconut cakes, fried chicken, bacon.
Elvis was dead, and summer had been so

hot the things we touched burned our hands:
handles of garden hoses, car doors,
the metal swing set my grandfather

built for me on the back lawn. I listened
to the sound of southern women's voices
expressing disbelief; they said I swan

and I pictured something rippling
and solitary; they said Well, shut my mouth and
I saw blue Elvis, falling.


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2018 by Faith Shearin, "Blue Elvis," from Darwin's Daughter, (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2018). Poem reprinted by permission of Faith Shearin and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2019 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

‘FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW’ (Rated PG-13)

The appeal of the latest film in “The Fast & Furious” universe requests squarely on the broad shoulders of fan favorites Dwayne Johnson (still “The Rock” to many of us) and Jason Statham.

A shorthand review need only state that if you liked the previous films in the franchise, then chances are “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” has to be on your radar.

On the other hand, if you are the least bit ambivalent or worse, or you couldn’t make the slog through all of the previous eight films, skipping this one could be an option.

Keep in mind, however, that “Hobbs & Shaw” is a departure from the norm. For instance, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto is neither present nor mentioned, and as a result, this one doesn’t feel like an entry in the “Furious” canon.

Hulking lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), a loyal American agent, and lawless outcast Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), a former British military elite operative, first faced off in 2015’s “Furious 7.”

The duo were not in any way compatible, swapping smack talk and body blows as they tried to take each other down. What happens when these two sworn enemies have to team up is the genesis of “Hobbs & Shaw.”

The bad guy is a superb Idris Elba as the cyber-genetically enhanced Brixton, an indestructible super soldier with the misguided notion of unleashing biological destruction of most of the world’s population.

Shaw’s estranged sister Hattie (Vanessa Kirby), a fearless MI6 agent, has gone rogue after retrieving the top secret bio weapon that Hobbs and Shaw are tasked to find. Needless to say, Brixton goes on a wild killing spree while in the hunt.

With plenty of banter and one-liners mixed in with the action-packed globetrotting adventure, the incessant physical battles and shootouts are occasionally interrupted by family reunions, such as Shaw visiting his imprisoned mother, the wonderful Helen Mirren.

“Hobbs & Shaw” checks the boxes of action and car chases, and of silliness and humor. Late in the game, the thin plot becomes even more noticeable but by then no one cares. You came to see Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in action, and that’s what matters most.

AMAZON SUMMER SHOWS ON TV

Just like its competitor Netflix, Amazon Prime Video does not adhere to network television’s traditional rollout of new shows. New series pop up in every season, offering more choices than any sentient being has time to consume.

Amazon’s successful global network is undeniable, as Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, noted during the summer TV press tour that the “most successful shows ever on the history of our service are the ones that have debuted over the last year.”

For the summer, Amazon provides an antidote to the excesses of the superhero genre with the new series “The Boys,” which is a counterpart to the world of the costumed idols in the Marvel and DC Comics universe.

Superheroes are no longer noble or even heroic in a place where Hughie (Jack Quaid) suffers a devastating loss at the hands of a reckless superhero and discovers there is no legal recourse for victims of their collateral damage.

While still reeling from his trauma, Hughie meets mysterious operative Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), who recruits him in his pursuit of some vigilante justice against those who are not exactly caped crusaders for the public good.

“The Boys” is an irreverent take on what happens when superheroes, who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians and as revered as Gods, abuse their superpowers.

A band of outsiders embark on a quest to expose the truth about The Seven, which consists of warriors that bear a thinly-veiled resemblance to the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, among others.

Arriving in late August is the one-hour drama series “Carnival Row,” set in a Victorian fantasy world filled with mythological immigrant creatures whose exotic homelands were invaded by the empires of man.

This growing population struggles to coexist with humans, forbidden to live, love, or fly with freedom. But even in darkness, hopes lives when two central characters spark an illicit romance.

Orlando Bloom’s human detective Rycroft Philostrate, and a refugee faerie named Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevigne) rekindle a dangerous affair despite an increasingly intolerant society.

Vignette harbors a secret that endangers Philostrate’s world during his most important case yet, consisting of a string of gruesome murders threatening the uneasy peace of the Row.

Not surprisingly, peculiar characters inhabit the series. Simon McBurney is an eccentric traveling showman leading a troupe of strange creatures.

David Gyasi’s Agreus is a mysterious wealthy faun who moves into an affluent human neighborhood in defiance of the social order. Many more odd characters populate the social divide.

Amazon has faith in “Carnival Row” because Jennifer Salke revealed, even before the series’ debut, that the company is so excited and invested in the show that it’s been renewed for a second season.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.