I Remember Bogart

This poem is entered in "Shadows and Light Poetry Contest" 

I Remember Bogart

I remember Bogart
his defining role for a generation
although he passed before my birth
movie magic brings him to me

He didn't win the Oscar that year
for Casablanca
and the unforgettable character of Rick Blane
another actor won the statue

Who was that actor?
Paul Lukas, remember him?
For Watch on the Rhine?
I thought not ... flavor of the year defined perhaps

We all remember Bogey,
and Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains
and Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre
for those memorable characters and stupidly un-awarded performances

And Hollywood didn't recognize Chaplin
until it made them look bad not to do it
when he was old enough to know better
and too young to care

They did care,
it showed in the work they did
the thing that truly lasts and shines clearly
through the haze of temporary popularity in Hollywood

and the smoke from a cigarette left burning too long.

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