Cinema Sonnet XIV:
Baby Face
Michael Ceraolo
It was a showing of a re-discovered original print
Barbara Stanwyck sleeps her way to the top,
still transgressive, even taboo today,
with unintentional humor along the way,
proving yet again nothing is deader than yesterday’s slang
After the movie was over,
there was a showing of two altered scenes
from the censored release,
plus
the false (in many ways) ending of the altered version,
provoking laughter from many in the audience,
smugly secure that such censorship
couldn’t happen today
