A stage? How quaint. If Will had lived today
and seen the ragged chatter of the trains,
the desperate drumming music of the street
he'd see the vast inadequacy of plays.
All the world's a film,
with sets, and budgets, scenes and lines and cuts,
a mad director screaming from his chair
the famous actors smoking between takes
as underpaid and overworked designers
build cities from the ground with wood and paint.
The camera rolls; a pan into the scene
then several cuts to show the time and place.
Some soft guitar to build the atmosphere
as skillful actors stride into their roles
(the businessman who holds his briefcase hard;
the jazz musician drinking through the night)
The lovers, full of violins and smiles
weave their soft way towards each others' arms.
The soldier with his makeup-grimy cheeks
digs in, and fights, and dies, and fights again
and plays his small role to advance the plot.
The end is sad and sweet: a human form
propped up by pillows and beeping machines
(all made to look appropriately medical)
expires; the scene's appropriately sad.
Now fade to black. Roll credits. End the reel.
And I? A extra, paid in the dregs of fame,
a face lost in the crowd without a name.
Author notes
C a r n i v a l e
A contest entry
- For my favorites by Envelope.
3600 points, ended November 8, 55 entries
• next poem in this contest, • Add to finalists list, or remove from contest - P.I.F (Shakespeare) by black-phenoqu.
500 points, ended November 9, 3 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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since you won gold at my pif contest,
please host a contest using the points you got and tell them to pif also -
Acceleration Generation
Through terse verse we rehearse life's subject sent
as food for thought has troubled conscious thought
for four millenia or more - predicament
narcissistic of man shaman time-trap caught.
Face lost in crowd, uncowed, may soar unbowed
outside staged stages, mournful moonlit phase,
brief briefcase hard luck storytale, dread cloud
forever present pillow night dismays.
Will too well knew the bustle of the streets,
unrailed and yet derailed by accident,
disease, or time which harvests heartless beats
as often as those tuned to tenderment.
Rent must be paid for earthly tenement
from birth to earth berth threescore ten years taught,
taut tightrope led from dark, fed, darkness bent,
with best laid plans of mice and men cut short.
Ignore swift time rift, second-thoughts aloud,
ticked of some callendar of nights and days,
of ages rushed and crushed far more than wowed,
till Lethe drowns life's sorrows from life's gaze.
"Unkindest cut of all" seems self-deceit's
travesty of chance earth birth has meant
for opportunities before the winding-sheet's
last laugh and rictus ends bewilderment.
The sum of knowledge - man's empowerment -
now doubles every twenty years, has wrought
scope for both hope, destruction, store saved, spent,
itself prepares fresh options, cyclic sport.
Inventions innovation have allowed,
acceleration which might seem haste haze
to most, who'd cruise coast, choose not, will kowtowed,
or caught in fad, trend, fashion, transient craze.
Mankind unprecedented switch now meets,
from sapiens to multi-modal, ought
to take time out, trace pace race rushes, greets
a brave new world with fateful challenge fraught. -
i would have preferred it if you hadn't entered this in another contest until mine was over
but i didn't say anything about that in the rules, so i can't hold it against you. this is a very true speech. but i think that the film is todays version of the plays. i am sure there were under payed and under-appreciated people in the plays also.
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I'm sorry, I'm new to this site and am still learning what to do and what not to do. Thanks for your comment.
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I have no eloquent words for how beautiful this is, so I'll just leave with the little clappy guys.
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I think Will would be interested in the technical side of today's film and stage work. And even a lowly extra gets paid and has dreams of that small role being the catalyst of his famous discovery. And with the so-called 'reality' shows being tossed around on TV, the term 'all the worlds a stage' has new meaning. One we all hoped would disappear...lol. Every Tom, Dick, or Debra wants their 15 minutes of shameless fame.
Your work is thought provoking. The technical part was wonderful, made me think of a Shakespearean soliloquy. It's very creative and I really enjoyed reading it.
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Hey, thanks! Film today has certainly gone global to a level that Shakespeare's plays never reached. Even his most beautiful works were done as public entertainment, not an art form (and plays as a whole weren't considered high art until almost a century after his death.) It'd be interesting to see what Shakespeare would make of the new-found legitimacy of film and theatre.
Maybe he'd go on Big Brother! That would be a horrible, horrible thing indeed.
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I like this, taking Shakespeare quote and elaborating to make it your own. There is no dress rehearsal, and though most of us play bit parts, we are all integral to the performance
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