save, ferris

AJ Hecht

Save, Ferris    

AJ Hecht                                                      

For Cameron                                                                

Acknowledgements

The content of this book is based on the Paramount Pictures film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. John Hughes, writer of the film that inspired these poems, created the characters portrayed in this book. Ferris Bueller's Day Off captured my imagination from a young age and continues to be a source of inspiration and reflection for me as I begin my adult life. I encourage all who haven't seen the film to do whatever they can to obtain a copy. It's a classic. It will probably help you understand some of these poems, too. Cover Photo Taken by André Natta More of His Work can be viewed on his linked Flickr page The photo was modified.

Table of Contents 1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off 2. Save, Ferris 3. If You Stuck a Lump Of Coal Up His Ass, In Two Weeks You'd Have a Diamond 4. Voodoo Economics 5. I Could Be The Walrus. I'd Still Have To Bum Rides Off People 6. I've Never Had One Lesson 7. Jeannie 8. Life Moves Pretty Fast 9. Anything Is Peaceful from 1,353 Feet 10. You Can Never Go Too Far 11. Abe Froman 12. How About Tomorrow, Sloane Peterson 13. She Won't Respect Him, 'Cause You Can't Respect Somebody Who Kisses Your Ass 14. Dean Rooney 15. That Time We Took Your Dad’s Ferrari and Tried to Roll Back the Miles 16. You Don't Get Your Own Movie But At Least You Have Your Own Car 19. Reflection

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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Save him. I don’t need to be saved.

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Save, Ferris I can rally a city. I can command an army of students. I know what is best for them. I know what is best for me. I know what is best for Cameron. Cameron doesn't know what's best for him. Cameron isn't a commander. Cameron can't rally himself.

  3  

If You Stuck a Lump of Coal Up His Ass, In Two Weeks You'd Have a Diamond. You need to relax. Let's have some fun. Don't let your old man make you like this. We're taking the day off so you can unwind and loosen up that asshole of yours. Not literally though. I have a girlfriend.

 4  

Voodoo Economics Don't be bogged down by the man trying to control you. Don't wait for his pleasure to trickle down to you. Make it yourself.

  5  

I Could Be The Walrus. I'd Still Have To Bum Rides Off People I asked for a car. All I want is a car. I only need a car. Everything else is perfect.

 6  

I've Never Had One Lesson I don't know how to play the clarinet, but that doesn't matter. I just have to act like I know. Everything else comes easy.

  7  

Jeannie You're not really a heartless wench even though you want to ruin my life. That's your job as my sister. You're just doing your job.

 8  

Life Moves Pretty Fast Sometimes, life moves the slowest when it's going the fastest. When you've got the top down driving along Lake Shore Drive. When you catch a screaming liner with your bare hands. When there's four thousand restaurants in the downtown area and you pick the one your father goes to. Sometimes, You've got to speed up to slow down.

  9  

Anything Is Peaceful From 1,353 Feet Press your face against the window and look down. Look at the people going about their lives, seeing the world from their windows as they pass it by. But we're watching it from above, not letting it pass by. We're stopping to stare. Making it last. We're not missing it. I'm not letting you miss it. You've missed enough already.

 10  

You Can Never Go Too Far You can never go too far because it's better than not going far enough. You'll do all that work and you'll come all this way, and then have it vanish before your very eyes. And we wouldn't want that to happen. Not after the day we've had.

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Abe Froman Sausage King of Chicago. That's me. I am who I need to be. I am the king.

 12  

How About Tomorrow, Sloane Peterson? I'd marry you, I really would. If you would just give me the chance. I'd make every day just like today, if only you would give me the chance.

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She Won't Respect Him, 'Cause You Can't Respect Somebody Who Kisses Your Ass He's gotta learn to respect himself before anybody else can respect him. And he's gotta learn to show some confidence and play his cards even if the time isn't right because before you know it none of those cards will even matter anymore. And he's gotta learn to look at what's in front of him, what's staring him right in the eyes and decide what he needs to do because that is how you earn respect. He needs to earn respect.

 14  

Dean Rooney My key shouldn't be your key to the door. My key shouldn't lead to your desperate grab for power. My key shouldn't let your life complicate mine.

  15  

That Time We Took Your Dad’s Ferrari and Tried to Roll Back the Miles Take a stand. Be a man. Aren’t you tired of being afraid? Ferrari red, That’s what you’d be. But to you, you’ll be black and blue.

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You Don’t Even Get Your Own Movie But At Least You Have Your Own Car You got a movie with someone else’s name on the front. But it’s still about you. It was always about you. Not me. Not her. You.                                                                      

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Reflection

My writing changed a lot over the course of this semester. If I had tried to write this

book at the beginning of the year, the outcome would have been much different than what you

see here. Since I started this class, I feel like my writing has become a lot more natural. I'm not

trying to fool anybody anymore. I'm not trying to come across as somebody I'm not.

The things I write about are what I want to write about, not what I think I should write

about. At first I was scared to write about certain things. Mostly myself. After breaking down

that wall that was keeping me from writing things that felt real, I was able to discover a whole

new world of poetry. It was fun, it was enthusiastic, it was personal, but most importantly, it was

genuine. That's what changed for me. The authenticity.

I hope what I've written here comes off as authentic, even if it is written from a persona. I

wrote these poems with the Ferrises, Camerons, and Sloanes in my own life in mind, not just the

ones that exist in Ferris's reality because they do exist outside of that world. They are all around

us. People exactly like them live their lives every day. They have to stand up to their dad or

convince their Dean they are sick so they don't get caught skipping school.

So even if the movie itself is fiction, it isn't all fake. There are some aspects to it that

apply to every day life, whether you're a Ferris, a Cameron, or a Sloane. I took those things that I

felt could apply to me or the Camerons and Sloanes of my life and wrote about them in the best

way I knew how.

I hope you can take these things and figure out how they apply to you and the people in

your life. I think that's what my goal was here. I'm not really sure what it was to be completely

honest. I don't really write things with an ending goal in mind. I decide what I want to write

about or what the idea behind it is and then start to writing, hoping that I'll figure out what my

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goal is along the way. I didn't decide early on that I wanted people to take what I've taken from

Ferris Bueller's Day Off and see how it applies to their lives. I just wrote my reactions to these

things and how I saw them. So if you want to see how these things apply to you, go for it. If not,

that's fine too. I don't really care either way. How am I going to know if you did or not?

I don't want you to take this too seriously either. I don't really know what I'm talking

about here. I'm not an authority on how to live life. I'm not an authority on anything for that

matter. So I guess what I'm trying to say here is take this with a grain of salt. Nobody can really

be a Ferris all the time. Nobody has it entirely figured out. That's the beauty of the whole thing.

Ferris and Cameron and Sloane can be in everyone. Everybody can have a little part of each

character in them. People aren't so one dimensional that they always abstain to this single

personality for the entirety of their lives. They can transform and adapt and develop into being

these beautiful, deep people with more than just the parts of them that they are willing to show to

the whole world. And we can go back, too. We can go from being Ferris to Cameron and then

back to Ferris again.

We can be whoever we want to be and that gets lost amongst all the craziness and

uncertainty that constantly plagues our lives. I think that's what Ferris is trying to show Cameron.

That he can be whoever he wants. He doesn't have to be the miserable kid that he is. He can go

out and see an entire city in a single day if he wants because Cameron has that power in him,

even if he might not realize it. You can, too. You just have to realize that you can.