People running all around,
People checking lights and sound.
Costumes, make-up, stage is set,
Actors breaking out in sweat.
Scripts be gone and all is still,
Director calls perform at will.
Act one begins, and all must feel,
Get it right, tomorrow’s real.
Iron out mistakes and kinks,
So all is well or so they think.
Break a leg, don’t call MacBeth,
Don’t jinx the play, just take a breath.
Our play begins and all is well,
Just play the part as tickets sell.
The curtain calls the butterflies,
A calm unease that flutters by.
Now we’re ready, bring it on,
Beheld by eyes, thy nerves be gone.
Author notes
F r i t z O s k e n n i c k
Prompt: Fore-play
12.entertainer
Pic: Fritz O'skennick's Gothic Tales... (Live)
In a list
A contest entry
- Don't You, Forget About Me by Poetic Obscenity.
550 points, ended August 6, 2008, 79 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Actors Do It On The Stage! by MessOfADreamer.
300 points, ended September 23, 2008, 3 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - The Field or Court; the Stage; the Symphony Hall by Peripatetic.
1500 points, ended December 7, 2008, 8 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - FORE-PLAY {Prompt & Option Contest} by liquidmindforever.
1750 points, ended July 30, 17 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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Dear Poet,
Thank you for entering my contest "Fore-play"
You've penned a piece close to my heart for several reasons: one, i performed
Lady MacBeth's monologue and two, I love the theatre with all its superstitions
traditions and passions.
Please, go back and correct your spelling on "McBeth." This is a Scottish setting
in the 1100's.
Once you've complied, im with title and I'll be pleased to add this poem to the finalists.
till then
wishing you the best
and stay
liquid
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Thank you for your kind words...
I have now corrected the spelling error...
Many thanks...
Fritz..........
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The nervous anticipation and awareness of one last run-through before “tomorrow’s real” performance is noted well. The images of lights, sound, sweat, scripts engage the readers. Being brought on stage by the poet yet without a clue as to what to do next, we feel our own nervous participation. The last line eases the reader’s tension as well as the actors’.
The stage tradition of bowing to Lady Luck with “break a leg” and refusing to say the title of the “Scottish play” aloud are nice additions of insider authenticity.
Sentimental fool that I am, I admit to loving the Ogden Nash-like whimsy of “butterflies” paired in rhyme with “flutters by.”
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Cool Bravo Bravo
A poem that reads like a spell, reading this it almost sounds like a good luck spell for a performance to go off with out a hitch. I see the script, the nervious energy of the actors back stage, the lighting crew, the sound crew, make sure the acustics are right, the light timing for ambiance is right. I see the whole production getting ready then being performed. Great , great, Bravo, Bravo STANDING OVATION.
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>.>
I'm pretty sure I specified that strict rhyme schemes were a thumbs down, but I'm keeping your poem in the contest because it was well done.
This was a cute piece, and really did a good job of capturing that awkward, amazing time right before the opening of a show.
Thanks for entering! -
Wow. This is possibly the best performance piece i've ever read. I truly enjoyed this fresh work. Being an actress myself, i can relate and feel this so deep down. You've done a wonderful job, for sure.
Thank you for your entry and good luck. -
I can relate to this-
the butterflies- the last minute
preparations(the nausea) ...and then, THE MAGIC!!
great write!!
I have missed reading you
so much!!
~Pastel
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Fritz this is spectacular, great flow and rhyme. You set the scene and tell the story well, I felt as if I could feel the butterflies and as if I were a patron in the audience, EXCELLENT write!!!
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