I hadn't seen Scorsese's Taxi Driver since its release in 1976. (Four of us had said, "Let's go see a movie!" and then sorta walked out numbed and bummed out…we hadn't been prepared for it by the ads.) But, looking back and recalling the film, the sex scene was fascinating, when DeNiro buys time with Foster to convince her to quit the job and he refuses her head-job, pushing her away. Then, I re-watched it and fell for the Noir.

I toyed with a parallel CLex storyline, but that first draft could only become predictable and sanctimonious [*break glass in case of anything resembling Jonathan's take on life*], so I trashed it and wrote this blank verse poem of bizarre!Lex's abandoning of himself to his intense desire for runaway pro!Clark. I've polished it again and again, sometimes several times a day immersing myself in Lex's heat. Very pleasurable.