("Helen Fordsdale"
by Mars playing)
You don't have to go too far
Before you're stuck
Inside a jar with no clothes
You don't have to go too far
Before you're stuck
Inside a jar with no clothes
Screaming, screaming
On my shelf
You have to keep it
To yourself
Screaming, screaming
On my shelf
You have to keep it
To yourself
Why resist you
Why not fist you
Throw your fit
See who cares...
- (traffic rumbling)
- (car horn honking)
(indistinct chatter)
(gentle music playing)
- (cars honking)
- (indistinct chatter)
(switch clicking)
(sigh)
(indistinct chatter)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (cars honking)
Paulie, you're gonna freeze
out here.
I like the cold.
Did you see that kid?
Ed: What kid?
He's been waiting for you,
like a prom date.
Can I help you?
You're Ed Saxberger.
What is this about?
My name is Wilson Meyers.
"Meyers," everyone calls me.
Okay.
I apologize
for showing up like this,
but I discovered
that you lived here
in my neighborhood.
Okay. And?
I read Way Past Go.
You are the Ed Saxberger, right?
The poet?
Of course you are.
I recognize you
from the back cover.
You read Way Past Go?
That's crazy.
But where'd you find a copy?
I bought it at Foyle's
on Charing Cross Road,
and then I read it at a pub
in Covent Garden
straight through.
It's brilliant.
We all think so, my whole group.
Your group?
We're, um,
an artistic community of...
poets and artists,
essayists, intellectuals.
- It sounds pretentious...
- Uh, is this some kinda joke?
- Did Paulie put you up to it?
- Meyers: I'm dead serious.
I don't know when you last read
the book yourself, but...
it's as if the poems
were written yesterday.
They're modern, they're...
moving, they're scathing,
they're... They... they just...
slap you across the face
with their style
and their relevancy.
- They're timeless.
- Well...
- that was a long time ago.
- October 1979.
You were younger than I am now
when you wrote it.
That's very impressive.
(chuckles)
I don't want to be presumptuous
in any way, but...
could we take you out
to dinner sometime?
My friends and I,
as an act of... (sighs)
I don't know... (hesitates)
...inspirationally
motivated gratitude.
Oh, inspirationally motivated.
I'm... I'm not speaking
coherently, but... (sniffles)
I completely understand.
I... (chuckles)
What I mean to say is,
my friends and I...
(hesitates) ...dinner with us.
You have much more
important matters to attend to.
I've taken up
enough of your time already.
- I'm sorry.
- Uh, it's okay.
- Stopped writing poetry?
- Ed: Years ago.
I work at the post office
for years now, so...
A man of letters.
I guess you could say that.
Meyers: Well, you wrote
a masterpiece,
whether people know about it
or not.
And... nothing can alter that.
That's forever.
Thank you. That's nice to hear.
What can I tell my friends?
Uh, tell them I'm very touched,
and I don't know, uh,
give them my best regards.
We're always at Any Old Place
on LaGuardia
if it ever feels...
enticing.
- Okay, maybe sometime.
- Meyers: Okay. Fantastic.
- Paulie: So?
- So what?
Paulie: I wish I had
a secret admirer.
- Eat your heart out.
- (chuckles)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (cue ba*ls clacking)
("Charley's Girl"
by Lou Reed playing)
Now, look at the trouble
That I'm in
You know, you'd better
Watch out
For Charley's girl...
Oh, so close.
(exhales)
- Patron: Oh.
- (chuckles)
(traffic rumbling)
(bell dinging)
- Waitress: Late for you.
- Ed: Yeah, you know.
I got your number seven already.
Ed: Oh, good. Thanks.
- Arnold: Hey.
- Hey.
- Arnold: What's new?
- Oh, nothing.
I just took Mikey
for 40 bucks tonight.
- He won't quit.
- Now you can retire.
Arnold: Rack 'em up.
- Ed: Hey, Mikey.
- Hey, brother. How you doin'?
(cell phone vibrating)
(switch clicking)
Ed's sister:
(over voicemail) Hi.
We're back
in the hospital, again.
Uh, it's almost midnight. Um...
seems like things have
really taken a turn this time.
He was asking about you before.
He... he thinks you're here,
- or that you're coming, he...
- (sighs)
Ed's sister:
Doctor's coming out now.
I gotta go.
Uh, you really need
to call me back, okay?
He's your brother too.
All right, bye.
(switch clicking)
- (gentle music playing)
- (Ed exhales)
- (birds chirping)
- (indistinct chatter)
Meyers: Saxberger!
Just my luck.
Where are you headed
this evening?
Uh, I'm out for a walk.
- May I join you?
- Ed: Yeah, sure.
- How's your weekend?
- Ed: Good. You?
I'm sure I sound overeager,
and that's embarrassing,
but the truth is
I've been feeling very inspired
- since we spoke.
- Yeah?
And it's had
a really energetic effect
on our group.
I've even started writing
a new poem, an epic
about Alexander the Great
and the Oracle of the Amun-Ra
- of all things.
- (chuckling) There you go.
Sounds ridiculous,
but it occurred to me
that evening after we met,
and it just seems to be able
to contain all the things
that I've been thinking about.
You know, divinity, uh,
this impossible journey,
you know,
uh, mortality, immortality.
I haven't finished it,
of course.
I'm just gonna kinda let it be,
wait for it to kinda ferment
in my mind
- like a fine must.
- Yeah. I... I head this way.
Would you ever consider
reading my work?
I don't know.
It would be such an honor.
Sorry if I overstepped,
overeager.
No, I'm happy to look at it.
- But don't expect much.
- Oh, my God, really?
- Thank you, Saxberger.
- Call me "Ed."
In our group, we call everyone
by their last names.
- Sort of a thing we decided on.
- Where are you from?
- Why do you ask?
- Mm, just curious.
You have
a very formal way of talking.
I find there's too much...
umming, and like, sorta,
you know... in the world.
- You know?
- Sorta.
- (chuckles)
- (chuckles)
- You know?
- Yeah.
I was just about to meet up
with my friends, the group.
- Mm-hmm.
- Would you like to join me?
Oh, yeah. (grunts)
It... it's getting kinda late.
I understand,
it's just... (clicks tongue)
- (laughs)
- You have no idea how much talk
there's been about you
at our table.
- (cheerful jazz music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
I know this place.
But it used to be called
something else.
Meyers: Here they are.
This is Carmichael, playwright.
- Ed: Hi.
- This is Sherfey,
a kind of, um,
experimental writer.
Meyers: Brussard,
who's a critic.
- Essayist.
- Yes, essayist.
Hello.
And this is Winn, who writes...
- Uh, everything.
- (chuckles)
- Everything?
- Yeah.
- It's nice meeting you fellas.
- Brussard: You too.
This is Saxberger.
- (group gasping)
- Oh, my God, Saxberger.
Okay. (chuckles)
Winn: What an honor
to meet you.
Brussard: Where have you been
hiding yourself?
- Ed: How's it going?
- Nice to meet you.
Uh, listen,
I... I'm... I'm really touched
by your interest.
Yeah, you, uh... you work
in, uh, the post office, right?
- Ed: Yeah.
- The... Like, Bukowski?
I guess.
It's, uh, pretty astonishing
you've been lost
- for so many years.
- Winn: Sorry.
My... my mom's
gonna pick me up soon.
I just wanted to ask you
if you could sum up
your, like...
your, like, career touchstones,
and what that would amount to.
You know, I'm...
I don't know how to do that.
Who would you say
your contemporaries were?
Who was a... a part
of your circle?
Ed: Well, I didn't really have
a circle, per se.
I mean, I knew some
of the older guys, like, um...
Robert Creeley.
- You know him, right?
- Mm- hmm.
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
- And, uh...
(exhales) f*ck, uh...
Uh, who else? Amiri Baraka.
- Meyers: Hmm.
- Ed: Uh...
- Winn: Yeah.
- Ed: Ed Dorn.
- Nice.
- I met Burroughs a few times.
- (group laughing)
- Oh, so iconic. (chuckles)
It must just be so satisfying
to have published poetry
like yours.
Satisfying?
Brussard:
In the sense of being, like,
sticking to your own...
authenticity.
Unlike those bullshit poseurs
over there.
Brussard: Hmm.
- Ed: Who are they?
- Brussard: f*cking influencers.
You got
your standard influencers,
a cultural critic,
which is really just another way
of saying influencer.
You have
your experiential creator,
which is... who the f*ck knows.
And somebody's girlfriend,
who's really
just an aspiring influencer,
if such a thing
can even be imagined.
To our knowledge,
they don't talk.
They only communicate
through sociopath media.
- They're addicts.
- Heroin?
No, uh, phone.
- We reject technology...
- (cell phone vibrates)
...as much as we can.
You know,
we've all seen firsthand
the way that it...
It rots the brain.
Well, you won't get
an argument from me.
At least people know
who they are.
Well, no one with any real depth
knows who they are.
Saxberger doesn't know
who they are.
Still people know them
more than they know us.
Ed: Do you have a name
for your group?
I guess "bullshit poseurs"
is already taken.
(group laughing)
The Enthusiasm Society.
What do you think?
- Not bad. Uh, sounds Victorian.
- (group laughing)
Catchy, evocative,
tongue-in-cheek,
it's got it all.
It says we're standing up
against negativity,
vulgarization,
the monetization of everything,
the coarsening of culture,
you know?
I'm glad someone's doing it.
Meyers: We need
to find a new way
of getting ourselves out there.
We need to find a way
of announcing ourselves
to the world.
That's what
we've been talking about.
Well, uh, people, you know,
used to do readings
I... I guess they still do.
Just rent a space
and invite people.
Meyers: Readings?
Yeah, I mean,
you know, a... a... a...
a kind of formal introduction
to our work,
and our collective
point of view, uh...
And how do we distinguish it
from all the other bullshit?
It's gotta be rooted
in something real.
We have to bring literature
back to the people.
Think of it as a.. as a...
as a kind of a... a...
a sincerely ironic throwback.
We do it in a place
where it would've been done
back in Saxberger's day.
We ban phones.
We hire a real photographer
to document it
with a film camera.
- We pass around a hat.
- Winn: Yeah.
- Meyers: Ask for donations.
- All right. Yeah.
Meyers:
What do you think, Saxberger?
Sounds good.
- Okay.
- Winn: Okay.
The essay you were writing,
and that piece you sent me.
- The one that I just read.
- Brussard: Uh, I changed it.
Meyers: We can show people
these things.
(gentle music playing)
Meyers: So, a weird question.
How did you like
hanging out with us?
Ed: I don't know.
Meyers: Sorry, awkward question.
Ed: Uh, I liked it very much.
What do you think of our group?
What do you mean?
I mean, do you think we seem...
- impressive?
- Oh, sure. Yeah.
There were some key figures
missing tonight.
You'll have to meet them too,
especially Gloria.
I wondered if there were
some girls in your group.
Oh, yes. She's an actress.
Truly larger than life.
She's older than us, but...
You know, when you meet her,
you'll... you'll see
what I mean.
Thank you very much. It was fun.
Saxberger...
I've been trying
to work up the courage
to ask you this since we left.
Would you ever consider
allowing us to use
something of yours in the event?
Mine?
You don't need that.
You have your own work.
Not like yours.
Okay. I'll pick something out.
- Thank you...
- (laughs)
...so, so much, Saxberger.
Ed: Hey. Okay, okay, all right.
Uh, good night.
- Good night.
- Good night, yeah.
- Thank you.
- Ed: Yeah.
- (siren wailing)
- (entrancing music playing)
(breathes deeply)
(laughs)
(indistinct chatter)
(indistinct chatter)
(sighs)
- (soft ambient music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
(chuckling) Hey, Saxberger.
- Ed: Hey!
- Saxberger!
What a pleasure
to see you again.
Ed: Thanks.
I was in the neighborhood,
- and I thought I'd drop by.
- Make some room for Saxberger.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Ed: Thanks.
We're just, uh, going over
- the structure of our event.
- Ed: Uh-huh.
Should it be called, uh,
"What We Want," or "What It Is?"
- Mm-hmm.
- Meyers: Perfect.
What about you, Saxberger?
Um, I still have to see
what there is.
I had a thought.
Please, hear me out.
What about something new?
Just imagine how exciting
it would be for the audience
if you were
to write something new.
But, uh, uh, nobody knows
my work.
It... it's all new
to them. (chuckles)
(sighs) You know, uh...
I haven't written poetry
in... (grunts)
I don't even remember
it's been that long.
Meyers: All the better.
I had my moment, it ended.
So, now it's your time.
This will be your new moment.
The return.
Look, the people out there,
they don't understand anything.
They just consume
what's given to them.
That's why you're one of us.
Just consider it.
- Please.
- My boys.
Group: Gloria!
- Meyers: There she is.
- Gloria: How's it going, kids?
Oh, I've missed you. (chuckles)
- Meyers: This is Saxberger.
- Hello.
Gloria: Hello, there.
Gloria Gardener.
- Ed: Pleasure.
- (Gloria chuckles)
So, are you an artist too?
Meyers: Gloria,
this is Saxberger.
- Hmm.
- Who wrote Way Past Go.
(gasps)
Oh.
Of course, this is exactly
how you would look.
- (laughs)
- (Meyers chuckles)
Gloria: It's an honor
to meet you, Mr. Saxberger.
Thank you.
Saxberger here has agreed
to take part in our recital.
- Brussard: Reading, reading.
- Gloria: I just got chills.
- What are you drinking?
- You decide, darling.
Just help the man out.
Do you want a sloe gin fizz?
Do you want a chai latte?
For the love of God,
not a chai latte.
How about an absinthe?
Yes, an absinthe!
I'll have
a black coffee, thanks.
So, how's the play
going, Gloria?
(groans)
There's never enough financing.
One of our key castmates
just dropped out
to do an episode
of some police procedural
- on network television.
- Sherfey: What? (groans)
- It's obscene!
- Brussard: Ugh!
Threw up in my mouth.
I promise I'll let you kids know
when we're back on our feet.
Well, I'll be
on pins and needles.
Anyway, I want to hear more
about your reading.
Brussard: Actually,
it's... it's an event, right?
Well, Saxberger's giving
some serious thought
to writing something new.
Thinking about it.
- And?
- (grunts)
Well... (sighs)
- Sure, why not?
- (group cheering)
- Meyers: Saxberger!
- Gloria: Wonderful!
Can I perform it?
Unless you were planning
on reading it yourself.
I, you know...
I haven't even started.
There's not even a word yet.
If I don't do your poem at
this reading, recital, whatever,
- I will die.
- (group chuckling)
Well, in that case, my dear...
- you can read it.
- Gloria: Oh. Wonderful.
Sherfey: This is gonna be great,
I think.
Let's go get some dinner.
We've got a lot to discuss.
You'll come with us,
right, Saxberger?
Yeah.
- Saxberger.
- Oh, thanks.
- (gentle music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (traffic rumbling)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (pleasant music overlapping)
Meyers: Or sit
at the opposite side
- That's fine too.
- Gloria: Is it though?
No matter what you do,
don't eat anything down here.
- Only there, there, there...
- Why not?
- ...and on the back.
- So, did you know Ginsberg?
No. By the time I got to city,
he was pretty cranky.
I... I did go
to a few of his readings,
and a friend of mine
used to hang out with him.
I knew
Jimmy Schuyler pretty well.
- Hmm.
- Poor Jimmy.
Yeah.
- Sweetheart...
- Yeah.
...next time someone asks you
a question like that,
you say, "Sure, I knew 'em all."
(chuckling) Oh, okay, okay.
I thought I would mark
this occasion by...
reviving an old practice,
the toast.
So...
we spend a lot of our time
as, uh, aspiring
practicing artists
looking up
to the icons of the past,
standing in their long
and formidable shadows...
the old masters
who held art on their backs,
despite all
of the... adversities
they might have faced,
and regardless
of whether they received
praise, or silence.
One of these noble men,
criminally overlooked
and undervalued,
is with us here today.
We salute you, Ed Saxberger,
for all that you have done,
and everything
that you have yet to do.
Mm-hmm.
- Meyers: To Saxberger. Cheers.
- Group: Saxberger!
Gloria: Salud.
(chuckles)
You know,
it's... it's customary
to answer one toast
with another toast.
I don't think I've spoken
to a group this big
- since my boss retired.
- (group laughing)
Ed: You know...
it strikes me...
how young all of you are
and how very impressive.
I used to be the youngest one
in every group,
and then one day,
I became the oldest.
Whatever I have contributed...
I'm very touched.
So, to you,
preservers of the national
artistic inheritance...
- (group chuckling)
- ...from the great tradition
of Whitman, Pound, and Williams,
it is to you, gentlemen,
- and to you, Gloria...
- (chuckles)
...that I raise my glass.
Cheers.
Group: Cheers.
- Meyers: To Saxberger.
- Group: Saxberger.
(indistinct chatter)
No, no, no, no.
- Absolutely not.
- No, listen, I... Listen.
Meyers: We insist.
Ed: No, let me do something.
It's not much.
- No, no, no, Ed, please.
- No, hey.
We insist.
- Ed: You sure?
- Yes.
Well, that's very kind.
Thank you, guys. Thanks.
(gentle guitar music playing)
(indistinct chatter)
This is me.
This is me. All right.
- Gloria: All right.
- (kisses)
- (chuckles)
- (laughs)
Okay, good night.
(chuckles)
Group: Hey! Saxberger!
Good night, guys!
Group: (sings)
Good night, Saxberger
- Oh, that was terrible.
- (group laughing)
- Good night.
- Gloria: Good night!
- Bye-bye!
- Good night!
- Ta-dum!
- (chuckles softly)
(grunts)
(hip-hop music playing)
Ed: Hey.
Uh, what do most people
smoke nowadays.
Which people?
Uh, young people,
like kids that go to NYU.
And one of these lighters.
- (keyboard clacking)
- (computer beeping)
That'll be 18.72.
- You're kidding.
- Clerk: Nope.
(cash register rattling)
- (coins clinking)
- Thanks.
Clerk: Mm-hmm.
(indistinct chatter)
Lorine: (over tape) Tell 'em
to take my bare walls down,
my cement abutments.
Their parties thereof
and claws of claws.
- Leave me the land.
- (Ed sighs)
Lorine: Scratch out the land.
May prose and property
both die out,
and leave me peace.
William: (over tape)
The descent beckons
as the ascent beckoned.
Memory is a kind
of accomplishment,
a sort of renewal.
Even an initiation
since the space
that it opens are new place...
- (truck horn blaring)
- (siren wailing)
Hilda: (over tape)
Are you sister? Are you brother?
- Are you alive? Are you dead?
- (whispers indistinctly)
Hilda: The harpers
will sing forever
of how Achilles met Helen
- among the shades.
- (cell phone vibrating)
Hilda: But we were not.
We are now shadows
as we walk...
Meyers: (over voicemail)
Saxberger, it's Meyers.
Uh, look, I have a couple things
I wanna show you.
Can you drop by my place?
I'm... I'm stuck here
while I wait for the plumber
to come and fix my sink.
Uh, I'm on Sullivan.
- (orchestral music playing)
- (knocking on door)
Meyers: (yells) It's unlocked!
I'll be right out.
(sighs) I'm glad it's you.
I'm still waiting
for the plumber.
It's kind of ostentatious,
I know.
- It's a bit sickening, I guess.
- Hmm, not really.
I mean, for a poet.
Ed: Well, Stevens was a poet,
but he was a big executive
at an insurance company.
- Huh.
- Eliot worked in a bank, so...
My parents bought it
as an investment
when I started at NYU.
Ultimately, it's cheaper
than the dorms.
Oh, okay.
So, you're done with school?
Yeah, I finished up my MA
a little bit ago.
- Uh, poetry, NYU?
- Gallatin.
I created my own major.
Virtues of style,
rhetoric and voice,
but poetry
was the main component,
- as you might imagine.
- Sure.
- First edition.
- Ah.
Oh.
- Ed: Wow.
- (Meyers chuckles)
- Uh, uh, c... can I keep this?
- Meyers: Sure.
(lighter clicking)
I debated a long time
over the font, the card stock.
Details like that really matter.
In 20 years, no one will have
any physical memories.
That's right.
I've experienced firsthand
the way the technology
rots the brain,
and I want no part of it.
Yeah, you mentioned that.
Uh, the others...
did they all go to NYU?
Carmichael went to ETW
for playwriting.
But, uh, Sherfey went
to Parsons,
which is
just an expensive daycare,
dropped out.
Winn is homeschooled,
although he does seem
to raise his hand a lot.
Fernandez went to RISD.
For some reason,
he's taken a vow of silence.
Brussard... (sighs)
...if I'm not mistaken,
his family owns
every last soybean
in the State of Missouri.
He's got a penthouse
over on Ludlow.
I heard his father
gave him a lump sum
to keep him
out of St. Louis forever.
At any rate, uh,
the group is pretty motley.
- Always in flux.
- How about Gloria?
You seem particularly interested
in Gloria.
Ed: No.
Uh, you just mentioned
everyone else.
Gloria's background is
a bit of a mystery.
She likes it that way.
We don't care about
what schools people went to,
or who their father is.
I mean...
reverence for art
is what binds us together.
The rest is just...
background noise,
the delusional trimmings
of late-stage capitalism.
Not to be so "Ooh, capitalism,"
but it's true.
We're radical. But ultimately...
our contribution to society
and our religion is our art.
Not that we're apolitical.
I mean,
that's important, of course.
But what about you?
Where did you go to school?
I dropped out
of high school actually.
- I love that.
- Yeah, well, I don't know.
I moved to the city in '77.
I'm picturing you
with just, like, a duffel,
- 11 dollars in your pocket
- (chuckles) No.
It wasn't at all like that.
and I just had ants in my pants,
and wanted to get to Mecca.
How did you know
that you were a poet?
I didn't.
I just started writing.
There was a lot of poetry
in the air
- at the time.
- Hmm.
I was always going to readings,
doing readings myself.
Uh, I was, like,
part of a community.
- You know, kinda like yours.
- Yeah, I see that.
Oh, I wanted to mention to you,
I spoke to my family friend
about you.
He's an agent at Knoll.
He'd like to meet you.
- Me? Meet me?
- Meyers: Yes.
Uh, what about?
About you. (chuckles)
He hip-pockets me as a favor,
lets me, uh, put his name
in the corner
when I submit to periodicals,
but he's got
a lot of great writers.
- Poets, novelists.
- Uh, which poets?
He's a good man
and he loves writers.
- So, may I tell him yes?
- Uh... (chuckles) Um...
Sure, why not?
I mean, you never know, right?
(both laugh)
- Um...
- (chuckles)
(chuckles)
(breathes deeply)
I should get going.
Meyers: How about our poem?
How's it coming along?
Ed: Ah, it's good. It's early.
It's a work in progress.
What is your process?
Sorry, presumptuous question.
Well, you know,
I walk around and see stuff.
I don't know, it's been so long.
Uh, do I have a process?
I don't think so.
When do you suppose
it'll be finished?
I don't know, uh...
I like to let things settle
before I commit to anything.
- Interesting choice of words.
- (chuckles softly)
Well, this was fun. (chuckles)
Let me know when you've got
something on paper.
Oh, okay.
Ed, uh, Saxberger...
you should write your memoirs.
Thanks for having me over.
- Alexa, volume up 50 percent.
- (music grows louder)
- (bell dinging)
- (indistinct chatter)
(upbeat music playing)
Arnold: Hey!
- You made it!
- (chuckles)
- Arnold: Look at this guy.
- Hey, what's with the scarf?
- It's a scarf.
- (patrons laughing)
- Arnold: You got me a present?
- Yeah.
- It's your birthday, isn't it?
- Oh, yeah.
- That's real nice.
- Ed: Yeah.
I mean,
that... that... (chuckles)
- That's just real nice.
- (Ed chuckles)
- Arnold: Real nice, man.
- I got it.
- Hey, Marie?
- Marie: Yeah.
Ed: Give this man a drink,
and I'll take my ginger ale.
You got it.
Wait, you're not even gonna
have one on my birthday?
Six years tells me no,
but... I love you anyway.
(chuckles)
Ed: I don't know,
he's kind of a leader.
He's pretentious,
like, uh, something
out of an Edith Wharton novel.
Like a dandy.
Fancy, you...
you know, refined.
A rich kid?
No, like those ones
that you used to see
that dressed like
they were poor.
He has airs,
plus he's not such a kid.
Must be nice.
Crowd: (sings)
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
- Crowd: Dear Arnold
- Dear me
Crowd: Happy birthday to you
- And many more!
- (crowd cheering, applauding)
You... you don't have
to open it now.
This isn't a bridal shower.
Come on,
what are you talking about?
"Way Past Go by Ed Saxberger?"
I bet the pages
are all blank inside.
(patrons laughing)
Uh, "I didn't need a reason..."
Uh, o... okay, okay. Forget it.
- I didn't mean to be...
- Ed: Forget it, forget it.
Hey, hey, hey.
That's my present, man.
You can't just take back
a person's present.
Irv: What is it?
It's a book of poems
that I wrote when I was a kid.
- (patrons chuckling)
- Bullshit.
No, no, I... I wrote it in 1979.
Look, that... that's me.
- Arnold: Oh.
- Patron 1: Oh.
- Whoo, pretty boy.
- (patrons chuckling)
Oh, forget it.
(grunts)
Okay, I... I wrote a poem
for Arnold too.
- You wanna hear it?
- Irv: Yes.
- All right. There once...
- (patrons chuckling)
Arnold: Oh, boy.
There once was a man
from Bay Ridge.
He drank to forget
his marriage.
- His wife was named Lisa.
- (patrons chuckling)
- She knew how to tease ya.
- Arnold: Whoo!
But her t*ts were too nice
to disparage.
- Boo!
- Yeah, you're a dead man.
Patron 1: Ed, read your poems.
- Patron 2: Come on, Ed.
- For you guys? (scoffs)
- It'll be lost on you.
- Arnold: Come on!
Patron 2: Come on. Do something.
Patron 1: Do something
from, uh, "Don't Pass Go."
- (patrons laughing)
- Read it. Come on.
What, you think
we're too lowbrow?
Yeah, I do.
Excuse me?
Yeah, I do think
you're too lowbrow.
- What the f*ck, Ed?
- Arnold: Hey, hey,
come on, cool it, guys.
You think you're some kind
of f*cking intellectual
because you wrote some poems
50 years ago?
- You have no idea.
- Patron 2: About what?
Who you're talking to.
Here. Hang... hang on to this.
It's a first edition.
Uh, Hey, come...
Hey, where you going?
- Come on, Ed.
- Patron 1: Oh, man!
- (bell dinging)
- Arnold: There once was a man
- named Saxberger.
- (Leonard laughing)
(traffic rumbling)
(distant, indistinct shouting)
(breathes deeply)
(switch clicking)
(indistinct chatter)
Ed's sister: (over phone)
And you know,
Susan's very organized,
so, at least that's off
my shoulders.
But it's getting to the point
where I'm really gonna need
some extra help here.
Well... (sighs)
...let's see how it goes.
Ed's sister:
Yeah, "Let's see how it goes."
- I've heard that one before.
- Ed: Listen,
uh, I should go now.
Ed's sister:
He asked about you again.
Right.
Ed's sister: I know
you don't wanna deal with this.
But all that stuff
that happened,
that was a long time ago.
Listen, he's not gonna
get better.
You don't want this
weighing on you.
I know, I know.
Ed's sister: Family's
the most important thing
- there is in this life.
- Who says?
Ed's sister: (sighs)
Okay. Great.
Now, you're getting me upset.
- I'm gonna go now.
- Okay.
Ed's sister:
And when I call you,
how about calling me back
for once.
- Okay.
- Ed's sister: Okay?
- Goodbye.
- Ed's sister: Goodbye.
(munches)
("Quando, quando, quando"
by Tony Renis)
Meyers: ...sweeping,
sweeping, sweeping
New York's vibrant arts scene
thanks to young artists,
whose full names remain
somewhat of a the mystery
to the... Saxberger, Saxberger!
Ed: I went to the coffee shop.
They said you'd be here.
- Brussard: You gotta see this.
- Meyers: Take a seat.
- Look, look, look, look.
- (Ed grunts)
- What are we celebrating?
- Meyers: Here, here.
They don't recommend
just anything.
These aren't just
a bunch of influencers.
I mean,
these are real tastemakers.
Nice, nice.
To make it simple,
you know, bare bones.
- Ed: Yeah.
- Bare bones, one light.
- We don't need anything else.
- Carmichael: What about music?
Going in and out.
Brussard: What,
like a cute little playlist?
Who the f*ck
do you think we are?
f*ck off, Brussard.
- (Sherfey laughs)
- (laughs)
Saxberger...
you know,
Gloria is with Carmichael now.
Okay.
I just... I thought
you should know.
Why?
Well, I see
what she's doing to you.
- She did it to me too.
- Carmichael: Look, right there
Meyers: Brussard,
Brussard, Brussard,
I wanna talk to you about it.
Yeah.
Meyers: No, I...
I do actually think
that music could be good.
Just a short playlist
of, you know...
We're gonna need to have
some sorts of,
like, interludes, you know?
No, like instrumentals...
- Hello.
- Hello again.
I know what he was
just whispering to you,
that that young man over there
is my lover.
Ed: Yep.
Brussard came on to me once...
well, a few times, a little bit.
But once,
he really came on to me,
and I pushed him down the stairs
of my apartment building.
Ed: That's terrible.
I can't stand
how jealous and petty he is.
It's just because
he can tell that I like you,
and it drives him crazy.
I have a very high tolerance
for despicable men.
Brussard:
So, you're just gonna be trying
to, like,
set off firecrackers on stage.
- This is ridiculous.
- Carmichael:
That's the exact opposite
of what I'm trying to say.
- Brussard: No one's gonna
take us seriously.
- (group shouting, clamoring)
Brussard:
Let's just be simple, okay?
- (door closing)
- (keys clanging)
(gentle music playing)
(indistinct chatter)
(sighs)
(indistinct chatter)
Okay.
Okay. Bye.
(breathes deeply) Sorry.
I apologize in advance.
We just moved in here,
and obviously,
have not renovated, so...
- (chuckles)
- An office is an office, right?
(chuckles) That's funny.
Seriously, thank you
for meeting with me.
Hey, it's, uh, an honor
and a pleasure.
Hmm.
So, why don't you tell me
about yourself?
What do you wanna know?
You haven't had
one of these meetings before,
- I'm assuming.
- You could tell.
(both laugh)
Well, we're just getting
to know each other.
- Right, right.
- Okay?
To see if we'd like
to work together.
- Okay.
- Okay.
Yeah. Uh... (clicks tongue)
...I was born
in Western Pennsylvania,
and I've been here in the city
since I was 17.
Jewish?
Uh, by name,
but my father wasn't observant.
My mother's family
was mainly German.
- Uh, we were raised Catholic.
- Mm- hmm.
And what did they do?
Uh, he worked in a mill.
Uh, it was
a brewery, paper mill town.
- She was a homemaker.
- That's the real America.
How do you know Meyers?
- Wilson, you mean?
- Right, right.
Knoll agent:
Our families go way back.
And my father founded
a law firm,
where his father is now
a senior partner,
and, uh, probably take
the reins one day.
Um, I grew up in Mamaroneck.
My sister babysat him.
You know,
all the typical suburban, uh...
uninteresting stuff.
So, uh, enough about me.
Why don't I tell you
a little bit
about what we do around here?
- Okay.
- Knoll agent: Okay?
We have no mandate,
We are passion driven,
and we represent unique voices,
and then we help them
get to where they wanna go.
Um, I have poets,
I have content creators,
and sports figures and authors,
and cookbook writers, uh,
who's actually k*lling it,
by the way.
- Ed: What kind of cookbook?
- Uh, pies.
It's just pies. (laughs)
So, my tastes
are... are pretty eclectic,
as you can probably tell.
- And I'm indicative of that.
- Knoll agent: Exactly.
And you work
at the post office now,
- Meyers tells me.
- Thirty seven years.
That is so amazing.
(chuckles) Wow.
So, Meyers gave you
a copy of Way Past Go?
Yes! Yeah,
it's just amazing work.
It's so impactful, really, yeah.
And you're thinking
of reissuing my work,
- I'm assuming?
- Um, eventually.
Maybe, yeah,
once the memoir's finished.
- Memoir?
- How far into it are you?
I haven't even given it
a thought.
Well, we can make it painless
for you, if you like.
We'd, uh... we'd set you up
with somebody...
and you just tell the stories,
and enjoy some catered lunches,
- and then
they... they put it together.
- Look, to be honest...
the memoir was Meyers' idea,
not mine.
Knoll agent: Oh.
Look, we use
the term, "discovery,"
around here a lot,
but you, sir,
are not a discovery.
You are something much better
and much rarer.
You are a rediscovery.
I'm a rediscovery?
- I didn't know.
- Knoll agent: Yeah.
And, uh... and that's precious.
What do you think?
Could I have some time
to think about it?
I totally understand.
You take all the time you need.
I have gotta zoom, so...
- (gentle music playing)
- (Ed breathes deeply)
Paulie: Ed.
Did you see some students
moved into 1F?
- They look about 11.
- No, I didn't.
- You like to bake?
- Uh, not really.
Sure you do.
Hi.
I wanted to see your place.
Okay.
Uh, let me help you up.
Welcome.
- That's a very elegant coat.
- Oh, thank you. It was a gift.
- So, here is where he writes.
- Uh, not yet.
But you did write,
and you will again.
- I don't know.
- Gloria: You think that now,
but you don't know
how the fame will affect you.
- Ed: Fame?
- Yeah, fame.
Uh, don't put the cart
before the horse.
You might think
the boys are silly,
but they have connections.
It could be big for you.
You know, you really ought
to mentally prepare.
And how are you preparing
for your fame?
Uh, did I say something wrong?
No.
It's just there's nothing
more exciting
than a rediscovered male genius.
- What about a female genius?
- It's better to be an ingnue.
- (intercom buzzing)
- Uh, excuse me.
Yeah?
Arnold: (over intercom)
It's Arnold.
- Uh, I'm a little busy now.
- Arnold: Open up, you schmuck.
(intercom buzzing)
- (sighs)
- Who's Arnold?
Uh, he... he's a friend.
Should I hide under the bed,
or behind a shower curtain?
- No. (chuckles)
- (chuckles)
Arnold: Hey. Sorry to bust in.
Ed: Ah, it's okay.
What's going on?
Gloria: Who is it, dear?
Oh, you know, hey,
I can come back another time,
- (chuckles)
- Gloria Gardner.
- Enchant. (chuckles)
- Gloria: No, please.
I'll meet you downstairs
across the street at the caf,
- Edward darling.
- Okay.
"Edward darling."
Hey, we haven't seen you around
for a couple of days.
Ah, I'm sorry, but you know,
those guys really wound me up.
It wasn't you.
They're great guys, but...
Yeah, you know, sometimes
they can be real assholes.
Yeah, I... I get it. Who is she?
Mm, she's an actress.
She's reading my poems.
Arnold: Reading your poems?
Yeah, there's a group
and they're having a reading.
It's nothing. It's no big deal.
Thirty years we know each other,
and now, all of a sudden,
you got secrets?
No. (chuckles)
It's not important.
- Okay. So, uh, can we come?
- No. I mean it.
- Uh, I don't want anyone there.
- All right, fine.
I... I... I won't tell anyone,
and we... we won't come.
(sighs)
Can I come?
Ed: We'll see, maybe.
Listen, uh, thanks for coming,
but, uh, you know?
She's waiting for me downstairs.
Oh! Okay, I get it.
Yeah, she's...
- Yeah, she's...
- She's cool. She's cool.
Arnold: Yeah, okay.
So, I guess, uh,
you're not gonna check out
- the Georgetown
St. John's game?
- Ed: Oh, damn,
- I... I... I forgot
all about that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- (hesitates) I got
a lot of stuff to do.
- Arnold: Whatever.
(traffic honking)
Ed: What do you have there?
Gloria: You know what these are.
Oh.
Come on. It'll be fun.
Ed: If you say so.
Hmm.
Gloria: SoHo's changed a lot
since you got here, right?
Ed: Oh, yeah.
Uh, you see those windows
at the top of that building?
That was Frank Moore's loft.
When I first got to the city,
I went to a party there,
and met poets,
painters, writers,
and theater people.
Cookie Mueller did a reading.
Cookie was cool.
Sharon was there.
Downtown was another world then.
SoHo was like
living on the moon.
You couldn't get a cab.
Everyone was an artist,
everyone was poor,
everyone was young,
until they weren't.
(breeze blowing)
- My hands are cold.
- Here.
What do you do to get by?
Acting gigs?
Mostly. I manage. I sing too.
Well, you're different
than those rich kids
that don't have to do anything.
It seems like you work hard,
and you make your own way.
You're not supposed
to think that.
- I'm not?
- No.
You're supposed to think
that I eat caviar for breakfast,
and that I go
to Paris every year
to buy the finest silks.
Who are you?
That's more like it.
I mean it.
Saxberger!
Saxberger!
Oh, Saxberger.
- Ed: Gloria!
- (chuckles)
- Gloria! (chuckles)
- (chuckles)
Gloria.
(both smooch)
I was supposed
to write my poem today.
Oh, sh**t. What time is it?
- Um...
- We gotta go.
We're gonna be late.
Ed: Where are we going?
Gloria:
We're going back in time.
(audience cheering, applauding)
Gloria: Willkommen, bienvenue!
Blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah!
So...
(gentle piano playing)
(sings) I was young
I was just 16 then
When you came up
From Burma one day
And you told me
To pack up my suitcase
And you did
And you took me away
I said, "Do you work
Nice and steady?"
"Or do you go sailing
And roving out to sea?"
And you said
"I have a job on the railroad"
"And, baby
How swell it's all gonna be"
You said a lot, Johnny
It was all lies
You sure
Had me fooled, Johnny
Right from the start
I hate you
When you laugh at me like that
Take that damn pipe
Out of your mouth, Johnny
Surabaya, Johnny
Is it really the end?
Surabaya, Johnny
Will the pain
Ever mend?
Surabaya, Johnny
Oh! I burn at your touch
You have no heart, Johnny
But I love you
So much
And at first
You were kind and gentle
Till I packed up
And went off with you
And it lasted two weeks
Until one day
You laughed at me
Oh, and you hit me too
You dragged me
All over the city
Up the river
And down to the sea
Now, I look at myself
In the mirror
And there's an old woman
Staring back at me
You didn't want love, Johnny
You wanted cash
But when I look
At those lips, Johnny
And that was that
I gave you all I had
But you wanted more, Johnny
Wipe that nasty grin
Right off your face, you rat
(audience chuckling)
Surabaya, Johnny
No one's meaner than you
Surabaya, Johnny
But oh, God
I still love you
Surabaya, Johnny
Oh! I burn at your touch
You have no heart, Johnny
But I love you
So much
- (cheerful music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
- (laughs)
- (Ed laughs, clears throat)
Hmm, hold on.
Uh-uh, okay. Uh, you want...
I try one now?
- Gloria: Okay.
- Okay.
Um. There once was a man
from old Flatbush.
He tried to find...
No, wait a second.
- Come on, let me...
- Gloria: This is so stupid.
Um, wait, wait.
There once was a man
from old Flatbush.
Ba, da, da, da, da,
da, da, fat tush.
He looked far and li... wi...
he looked far and wide
- for a beautiful bride.
- (Gloria chuckles)
And the ones he knew cried...
- (grunts)
- ...and seasons collide.
Good.
- Right?
- Gloria: Oh, yeah.
You must've been beautiful
when you were young.
(gentle music playing)
Ed: Seasons collide.
Seasons collide.
Gloria: (singing) I love you
So much
Ed: Seasons collide.
(tender music playing)
(entrancing music playing)
Ed: Seasons collide.
Ezra: (over tape):
What thou lov'st well remains,
the rest is dross.
What thou lov'st well
shall not be reft from thee.
What thou lov'st well
is thy true heritage.
Arnold: " Past is past."
"And if one remembers
what one meant to do
and never did...
is not to have thought
to do enough."
- (car horn honking)
- (indistinct chatter)
(gentle music playing)
Arnold: " Past is past."
Ed: Seasons collide.
Seasons collide.
Seasons collide.
I'll never write another poem.
- (upbeat music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
Meyers: Well,
so far only about a dozen,
and five of those
are Winn's family.
And our neighbor, and our...
our neighbor's friend.
Sherfey: Most people
just show up
and buy a ticket at the door.
- Brussard: No, they don't.
- Sherfey: Yeah, they do.
- So, what? You know?
- Ed: Hi, I'm Ed.
- She's a friend.
- Meyers: Regardless,
the best thing we can do
is make sure
if you want someone there,
they know when it is.
Remind your friends.
- Call in the favors.
- Mm-hmm.
- Meyers: Winn, how many times
have we emailed them?
- Winn: He said maybe.
- That's his wife's...
- Meyers: Can you pull that up?
- Give me a sense...
- What about your friends?
...of how many people you got...
- I don't have any friends.
- (Brussard scoffs)
You don't have any friends
from back in the day?
- Like who?
- Like, Gregory Corso.
I... He wasn't my friend.
And besides, he's dead.
Oh, sorry. I mean,
I was thinking of somebody else.
Um, sorry.
- I have work friends...
- I can't remember now.
...but they don't really have
an ear for poetry.
Well, once they're in the chair,
they're the audience,
and that's what we need.
The more, the better.
Hey, did you give Gloria
your poem?
Uh, no,
I haven't finished it yet.
So, where are you at
in the process?
Ed: I'm... (sighs) ...uh...
I haven't written it out
fully yet.
Actually, I... I...
I haven't even started it.
It's tomorrow.
- I know.
- Meyers: Will you be able
to finish it?
- Or...
- Probably not.
So, what are we supposed to do?
(Meyers sighs)
Well, you already have
a lot of other poems, right?
That's true.
We can use, uh,
one of the older ones.
It would be new to the audience
in any case, like you said.
Would you be okay
with that, Saxberger?
- That sounds good. Thank you.
- Brussard: No, it doesn't...
(hesitates)
It already says "new work."
Well, it's too late
to reprint them now, so...
I... I wasn't being lazy.
I don't want you
to think that, you know?
I... I just couldn't do it.
It's not a sad thing,
it... just didn't happen.
You know, sometimes I think
if I was living
a different life,
like if I had some residencies,
or a tenure spot somewhere,
and... and maybe
if I was living that life,
maybe...
it would be easier
to write a poem, but...
that didn't happen.
And... and I'm not sure
I wanted that life anyway.
We'll use the old one.
It's okay, Ed.
- Winn?
- Winn: Yeah.
- The listservs
that you emailed.
- Winn: Mm-hmm.
- Meyers: Can you send me them?
- Winn: Yeah.
Meyers: All of them.
I wanna see the list.
Because how many
of the people on here
are people we don't know?
Winn: None, none.
(traffic rumbling)
(intercom ringing)
- Gloria: (over intercom) Hello?
- It's me.
- Gloria: Who?
- Saxberger.
Gloria:
Now's not really the best time.
You showed up
at my place unannounced.
(intercom buzzing)
Hi.
- Hell of a climb.
- Yeah. Look, it's, uh...
it's good to see you,
but this is no good time.
- You have to go somewhere?
- No.
I'm sorry for barging in,
- but I came to see...
- Gloria: This is a friend.
He's gonna leave in a minute.
(door closing)
- That's your roommate?
- Yeah.
(chuckles)
- Papayzan: Okay, this is...
- Gloria: Quiet. Out!
(door closing)
(muffled indistinct chatter)
How'd you hook up with him?
It's his apartment,
and he's a dear old friend.
- So, what's... what's going on?
- Not very friendly.
Let's have
the rest of this conversation
the next time
we see each other, all right?
- Is everything okay?
- Yes, it's fine.
Are you f*cking this guy
for free rent?
Jesus, Saxberger.
Ed: Uh, sorry.
I'm just trying to understand.
I'm fine, really.
I came here
because I wanted to tell you
that I've been
thinking about you.
Okay.
- Did I do something wrong?
- No.
Things are just complicated
for me.
Well, hey, marked the poem
for tomorrow.
Great.
Hey, why don't you get dressed,
and come with me,
- I'll take you out to dinner.
- That sounds lovely,
but I need
to take a rain check, okay?
(hesitates) I... I just want
to make sure you're really okay.
- Yes. Really.
- Hmm?
You better leave, okay?
I'm gonna say goodbye now.
- (door closing)
- (gasps softly, sighs)
(pensive music playing)
(sniffles)
(traffic rumbling)
(upbeat jazz music playing)
Winn: It's kind of
a communal space.
There actually seems
to be people living here.
Meyers: The Soviet anthem there,
that Brussard's cue.
Winn: Sorry to interrupt,
Saxberger is here.
Meyers: I think
there's another three
- in there as well
that I sent to you.
- Meyers.
- Meyers: Hey.
- (dramatic opera music playing)
What's this hippie place?
I know, it's all a bit dclass,
but people know this place.
I mean, people come here.
We're gonna get a great house,
I promise.
The guys are in the back.
Brussard: I just
don't understand
why can't you just read it?
Carmichael:
Will you shut up, man?
Brussard: Why can't you read it?
- Ed: Hi, fellas.
- Group: Hey.
Carmichael:
No, there's just no way
that I can read it.
It's written explicitly
for a woman.
I haven't prepared.
C... could we find a woman?
- Sherfey: It's fine.
- Carmichael:
No, I'm not a performer.
I'm a playwright.
I mean,
that has to mean something.
Ed: Uh, oh...
what are you talking about?
Gardner isn't coming.
She doesn't feel like it.
- What?
- Sherfey: Yeah, she's sick.
- She's sick?
- Sherfey: She might not come.
Who's gonna read my poem?
- Well, it's... it's a migraine.
- (scoffs)
- She has them, I forget.
- Brussard: A migraine?
No, her and Carmichael
got into an argument.
That's all.
She's just winding him up.
She's making him sweat.
- It's gonna be all right.
- Carmichael:
Hey, f*ck off, Brussard.
- Brussard: f*ck you!
- Oh, this is so f*cked up, man.
I don't even know
what I'm doing here.
This isn't easy for me.
For you, yeah, you...
you're all young, well off.
You got nothing to lose.
It's like you don't give a sh*t.
- Meyers: Where's my clipboard.
- Ed: Meyers, what's the plan?
- Meyers: Plan?
- My poem, who's gonna read it?
There's a lot going on.
This isn't all about your poem.
- Gloria: Willkommen, bienvenue.
- Well, uh...
Meyers: Gloria.
(Gloria grunts)
Am I the last one here?
Yeah, but you're on time.
Don't worry.
(groans)
I almost missed it, kids,
- but I'm here, okay?
- Saxberger freaked out.
- Oh, f*ck it. f*ck it.
- Gloria: Can I get a glass
of room temperature water?
Meyers: I thought you knew this.
Winn: No, Fernandez has taken
his vow of silence.
(speaks indistinctly)
Winn: Hang go,
that's my neighbor.
(group murmuring)
(dramatic opera music playing)
(audience applauding)
For years,
a battle has been raging
for the soul
of our community of artists,
a battle very few...
Brainwashing social media,
it's threatening
your very freedom of thought.
It's h*m* the masses
and paving way to dictatorship,
clickbait
cognitive dictatorship.
(audience member laughing)
Brussard: And when dictatorship
is a fact...
- Okay. That's my cue.
- ...revolution is a right.
"Revolution is a right."
For those of you who don't know,
that's Victor Hugo,
one of the greatest writers
of the 19th century.
Gloria: Just help me
out of this.
Terminate your cellular devices
immediately
for the remainder
of the evening.
It is my honor
to introduce to you...
- (Gloria groans)
- ...the Enthusiasm Society.
- (audience applauding)
- Gloria: Okay, I got it.
(audience murmuring)
"Where is my little boy?"
That's a question
of every day, isn't it?
That's what the neighbors ask...
and his school friends,
and the policeman too.
I told them I didn't know,
and I still don't.
Where is my little boy?
Even a doctor's visit feels like
a refreshing change of pace,
even the DMV.
He played outside
with the neighborhood kids.
It was that kind of place.
I grew up in a hideous place,
but here...
this is a childhood.
Where's my little boy?
I know where my son's body is...
but where is my son?
After the accident...
after I panicked
and cleaned everything up,
I hid his tiny body
from everyone,
even his own father.
Where did he go then?
Such a decision cannot be undone
once it is made, you see?
You see!
I can tell you see.
(audience cheering, applauding)
- (groans)
- Carmichael, you should go!
Max: Hello.
My name is Max Murphy...
- Hey, that was amazing.
- Mm- hmm.
- That was one for the ages.
- Gloria: Uh-huh.
Carmichael: Come on.
- You're incredible.
- Gloria: Thank you.
- I just need to sit down.
- (Max vocalizing)
I... (sighs)
...I just need
a New York minute.
(audience applauding)
"Great talons shred the sky,
weeping rain..."
Gloria, you're reading next.
Winn's poem isn't very long.
Hey.
Gloria?
Winn:
"...and trenches of my brain
down the rivulets
that spread through
and over my core existence."
- Meyers: Is she okay?
- Carmichael: Yeah.
No, she's okay.
She's breathing fine.
- (Gloria groans)
- Carmichael: Gloria, Gloria.
"...where my words
sparkle like diamonds."
(audience applauding)
elderly audience member:
Love you, sweetie!
Ed: She's out.
You're gonna have
to read it yourself.
- I guess so.
- It'll be all right.
This is as it always
should have been.
- Wh... where's the book?
- I think it's in her jacket.
I'm gonna introduce you.
Ed: f*ck.
audience member:
How many more of these?
Another one?
(audience applauding)
A rare thing...
to discover someone whose work
is as relevant today
as it was in 1979.
Someone who...
confoundingly slipped
through the cracks
of a culture
that desperately needed him.
Ed: Ah.
It is my great honor
and pleasure
to reintroduce
the great New York poet,
Ed Saxberger.
(audience cheering, applauding)
I am going to be reading
from Way Past Go.
"I flew like a spark
from the fires I kindled,
back in the rusted hollow heart
of this America."
"Kept my eyes on the sky
from the back window
of a Peter Pan bus, all the way
into my dark glittering
asphalt Mecca."
"Pockmarked streets
I ached to walk,
rolled out for me,
a wine dark carpet
with an underworld
humming underfoot."
"My moving shadow
landed downtown,
where everything
was always happening,
right now and forever."
"A thousand and one nights
on a $1.98 a day."
"Discount delights
of shimmering rayon
and scattered stones
of cubic zirconia."
"Canal Street...
canvas sky over cardboard sea,
from dawn to dawn,
right now and forever."
"We made everything happen
and never stopped,
and never called it work,
because it was all only ours,
beat to beat,
from waking up cold
on cracked rib floors,
to writing these words for you,
and only you."
"Eyed you behind the bar
at Three Roses,
pencil wrists, raccoon eyes,
puckered lipsticked mouth
that murmured...
'How about you write me
a sonnet?'"
"Wrote that first one
by candlelight at your place
on Grand and Thompson,
after we came so hard
that we both cried."
"Writing this one
with shivering hand,
on the uptown A Train,
to get to Sugar Hill
way up in Harlem,
longer than a sonnet,
a poem that won't end
until it finds you...
wherever you've gone to."
"Maybe tending bar
at the Blarney Stone,
or out on tour
with that band again."
"Maybe picking peaches
in the San Joaquin Valley,
or doing the au pair thing
in L.A....
or maybe you're with me
like Eurydice,
daring me to turn around."
"That first night
at Three Roses,
Rockets whispered in my ear...
'She'll burn you, man.'"
"And that's just what you did...
right now and forever."
(audience cheering applauding)
- (speaks indistinctly)
- (speaks indistinctly)
audience member: Way to go,
Grandpa!
(audience laughing)
(pensive music playing)
audience member: (echoes)
Way to go, Grandpa!
- Incredible.
- (muffled indistinct chatter)
- I don't know.
- Meyers:
You all right, Saxberger?
Yeah, I'm good. Yeah.
- That was great.
- Oh, good. Thank you.
Congratulations
on the performance up there.
- It was excellent.
- Good.
audience member: (echoes)
Way to go, Grandpa!
Meyers: My friend's friend
said that
she seemed to really love it.
- That's great.
- Get ready for offers.
- (gentle music playing)
- (chuckles)
Jack: My dream,
a cycloramic cul de sac cleaver,
belongs to you.
Canvas on cobblestones...
- (indistinct chatter)
- (soft piano playing)
Gloria: Hey, Saxberger.
How'd it go?
Just beautifully.
- You don't look satisfied.
- Ah, it's not important.
I'm really thirsty. (chuckles)
- I'm having a hard time.
- Uh, I... (stammers)
Listen, let me help you
with this.
- (chuckles)
- (bottle top popping)
It's cold.
There you go.
- Thank you.
- (Ed exhales)
Will you tell Carmichael
that I accepted the role
in Minneapolis?
I don't know
what you're talking about.
I'm doing Winter's Tale
at a very respected theater
- in Minneapolis.
- Ed: Wonderful.
That's great news, right?
Yeah.
You know...
- I'm an artist.
- Yeah, I know.
And I belong to no one,
just my art.
I know.
(chuckles)
I gotta go.
(dramatic music playing)
(poignant music playing)
Paulie: What's that?
Uh, it's just
a little something.
- Uh, you been to a party?
- Ed: May I?
(cheerful music playing)
"Atque in perpetuum frater,
ave atque vale."
- What does that mean?
- (Ed chuckles)
Goodbye and farewell, brother.
- You leaving?
- Ed: No. (chuckles)
I'm just quoting some poetry.
You should keep it.
Looks better on you.
(chuckles) Good night.
(sighs deeply)
Ed's sister: (over cellphone)
Hi. Jimmy died couple hours ago.
Just thought you should know.
See you later.
- (gentle music playing)
- (indistinct chatter)
(indistinct chatter)
(indistinct chatter)
"The Enthusiasm Society,
a self-declared literary group
with a cheerful
or sarcastic name,
depending on
your interpretation,
staged a recital,
reading, performance."
"Maybe a hodgepodge
is more like it."
"A hodgepodge of poets,
and writers, and actors."
"As an event, it all had
a kind of ramshackle charm."
"Apart from a haunting reading
by an old... by an...
an old village bard,
and an all-stops-out performance
by a veteran actress,
you didn't miss much
if you didn't attend."
Where's Gloria?
She and Saxberger came out okay.
Ed: Uh, she wanted me
to tell you guys
that, uh, she was offered a gig
at this theater in Minneapolis,
and she's gonna take it.
Good for her.
Here's, um, some arts website.
Um...
"Yesterday, a reading of works
by Lower Manhattan's
best-known..."
"Best-known"?
Um, "...literary society,
Enthusiasm,
it was organized
by the group's Diaghilev,
Wilson Meyers."
- Who's Diaghilev?
- Meyers: Ballet Russe.
Nijinsky, Stravinsky.
The... He's a great impresario.
Uh, buh, buh, buh.
"Poems, monologues, and essays
presented by the mostly
young authors themselves,
and actresses."
Uh, then they just sorta name...
Yeah, all of us.
So that's... that's good, right?
Special mention of the actress.
Um, "And met
with lively ovations
from the audience."
"Even if the fermenting must
has a way to go
before aging
into an elegant wine,
this group of young artistes
could signal
the start of something new
and the return of something old
and sorely needed."
Sherfey: That's not bad.
Winn: That's actually
pretty good, right?
Something off about it.
- What do you mean?
- Who did it say wrote it?
Uh, tuh, tuh...
Just says "staff."
You're being
awfully f*cking quiet
over there.
Are you just letting
the must ferment?
Wait, what does that mean?
He wrote it.
(chuckles)
I don't understand it.
Carmichael:
Wait, wait, you wrote that?
I don't understand.
I may have used
my influence a bit, it's...
Carmichael:
You used your influence...
- (laughs)
- ...or you wrote it?
It's a matter of positioning.
If Diaghilev were alive today,
he would've written
his own reviews.
It's a half step away
from what they already are.
And I mean,
I... I couldn't write you
a rave review! (hesitates)
I was very fair.
Brussard:
You're not f*cking Diaghilev.
And who gave you the permission
to anoint us
the start of the return
of f*cking anything?
I mean, who even made you
our f*cking leader?
I am the leader!
Who else would be the leader?
I worked day and night
to bring us all under one tent!
Why? Because I believe!
I brought us together...
I kept us together!
I found Ed, for God's sake!
Sorry, I didn't suck your d*ck
about some stupid f*cking essay!
(breathes shakily)
What the f*ck
do you believe in, huh?
Nothing!
(footsteps receding)
Woman: Wow.
That was really authentic.
f*ck this.
Um...
that's enough for me.
Brussard: Yeah, me too.
- Wanna go get dinner?
- Ed: No. I'm too tired.
Yeah.
I lost my appetite too.
(slurps)
(footsteps receding)
(traffic rumbling)
Winn: Saxberger. Hi.
I just... I wanted to say
that I... I really have
a lot of respect
- for you and your work.
- Ed: That's very kind.
Well, uh, anyway,
I was, uh, wondering
if you'd be amenable
to taking a look
at some of my work.
You know,
I... I really trust your opinion
and I'd like to know
if you... (chuckles)
- ...think I have any talent.
- You're young.
You have everything
ahead of you.
Yeah, I... I know.
I realize that.
It's just, you know,
before I dedicate my life
- to something I wanted...
- Look, look.
Whatever you send me,
I... I'll look at it.
Uh, I'd be happy to.
But as far as deciding
whether you have talent or not,
I don't know
the first thing about that.
- But you're Saxberger.
- Well, hey... (grunts)
if it was really good
or really awful, maybe.
But then talent
is just part of it.
You know,
you really shouldn't put
your self-worth on a platter,
and hand it
to an old guy like me.
Wait. You're... (chuckles)
...you're a genius.
Stop!
Why do you put so much stock
in my opinion?
Tell me something.
Did you honestly like
Way Past Go?
I've been... I've been dying
to read it, really.
And I keep asking Meyers,
he pro... promised
he would lend it to me.
He promised everybody,
but you can't really
rely on him.
- It's just... I mean, he...
- So...
Winn: You know,
I wanted... I want...
- ...nobody read it, right?
- But your reading was amazing.
Ed: Okay.
You don't read mine,
I don't read yours.
Okay?
(soft brooding music playing)
Ed: Good luck, kid.
(exhales)
- Hey, Ed.
- Hey.
- Patron: Hey, there he is.
- There he is.
- Arnold: Not bad.
- Damn. Well...
- Not this time.
- Arnold: Slide over.
- (pool cue clacking)
- (ba*ls clacking)
- Ed: All right, all right.
- Arnold: You were this close.
Ed: That's something,
that's something,
that's something.
Okay, here we go.
- Arnold: I like that.
- Ed: No, I don't like that.
I like that,
but I don't like that.
- Arnold: Oh.
- Ed: Oh.
- (patron exclaiming)
- Arnold: Sorry, buddy.
- A little rusty?
- Ed: Nah.
Baby, baby. Ah! Crash.
- (Arnold exclaiming)
- Ed: Oh!
- Arnold: Touch!
- Ed: Keep going, baby!
- Okay. I can do that.
- Arnold: Stripe drop.
- Ed: I got that.
- Arnold: Scratch off the bat.
- Ed: Yeah.
- (Arnold laughing)
(entrancing music playing)
(gentle music playing)
(music concluding)
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Late Fame (2025)
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