AV 1982

Today's prompt was to write about an out-dated technology.

AV 1982

 Film is loaded and fed 

through spindles and slots

with a rapid fire 

click click click click.

Light flickers;

an image begins to appear.

Sound is more unpredictable,

lips may mouth words 

spoken seconds before or after.

It is so distracting one can hardly focus.

Care must be taken 

so there will be no melted celluloid.

But the students are abuzz with excitement.

We watch in the strobing light 

as exotic things parade through our classroom.

More engaging than the slides 

that click past in frozen silence

or the still frames of filmstrips that are 

every day fare in the classroom, 

the films bring the far away into view—

            George Washington visits from Mount Vernon,

            an armless woman cuts her son’s hair,

            a red balloon floats through the streets of Paris,

until we hear the 

flap flap flap flap 

as the film slaps

 signaling the end of the reel.