Review of Film Noir by Dana Gioia

Film Noir by Dana Gioia appeared in the Winter 2013 issue of The Virginia Quarterly Review.  Mr. Gioia offers a rhyming poem with an interesting story about a femme fatale and her mark.  For the most part, it is well done, though even for a cliche poem about a cliche story there were a few too many cliches for my personal taste.  Also, he rhymed "mistakes" with "stakes" which, in my opinion, was a "mistake."  The plot of this story-poem moves along and comes to a tight, if predictable, conclusion--but in this case the predictability is part of the fun.