Mar
Literati
Please help me welcome another new-comer to our site, a poetess! So glad she stumbled upon our site and has bought some poetry to…well…the stage! When all the entries that arrived before March 15th at midnight are posted, we’ll announce five finalists, who will then be given and impossible prompt and deadline, and when those have been posted, everyone who entered the contest will vote for the winner. We are going to win so much, you’ll get tired of winning! And it will be beautiful. Believe me. And believe also, as Carole does, in the magic of poetry.
Say It Once More…With Feeling, If You Can
By Eileen Carole (aka Carole Boyce)
These are tired actors in a play,
Playing a part…halfheartedly ? And why?
Because the lines are the same old lines
Yet the actors are unfamiliar with the role
And there’s not enough guidance from the director
To produce the desired results
Halfheartedly…but the converse can also be said true
As there is oft too much heart behind the lines,
In the way of the lines
And it’s not quite like the script
When feelings overcome reason
And makes a man say what he doesn’t mean
The script couldn’t be this hard to follow
The play’s end so difficult to bring to applause
She doesn’t feel the “romantic lead part”
And she didn’t read between the lines
The parentheses in the screenplay dictate the mood
And the lines and the mood
Never got in sync
Synchronization is the integral element
To the orchestration of a song
To the articulation of the relationship play
And no one wants to see a tired play
A novice can see the farce behind the act
And it is not to be believed
The curtain will come down
With the players acting mid-scene…
Trying to overcome with words and action
This madcap production
They stand in silence
With their hands at their sides
Not hearing the same words
And a step out of sync
As they read through the lines
Not knowing how to play their part…
Say it once more with feeling,
If you can
If you both can…
I think not.
(Afterthought: When love has sung its last song, when time has taken its last December)
(And yes, the painting is of Horace. I tipped a pint in London in the square where once stood Sir Reynolds’ house, and discovered that my great-great grandfather, the portrait painter Thomas Sully, once made the pilgrimage to do the same while the house was still standing. Just sayin…)
I love the last line of Carole’s poem: “… when time has taken its last December.” Stunning expression.
Reminds me of star-crossed lovers on a certain lobster boat.
You had me chugging to the end: impatient, distracted, tense. Beautiful!
Welcome Eileen Carole (aka Carole Boyce)!
I am always delighted when someone enters poetry as a response to our prompts. It seems to celebrate the diverse ways we can be mis-understood in the written language! And this one? What a perfect description of a love gone stale. Thanks for joining us, Carole.
Old, old, old poems were easy to recognize by their rhyme scheme and consistent tempo. But they were always more than that.
Too, too, too many modern poems feel like little more than halting phrases and disjointed thoughts stacked on top of one another, a collection of ideas without a theme to hold them together.
I like that this piece keeps its focus and stays true to its message.
Welcome Eileen Carole to our stage. With your entry and luscious in its wording and vision you definitely fit in. A concept of out of sync is stated so well within your words – not knowing how to fix it or step out of it or even move on. Well done.
This whole piece reminds me of Hamlet where he hires actors to put on a play and the audience essentially watches actors watch actors. It calls to a certain understanding of awareness and playing a part. Very philosophical. Good job.
Thespian love, beautifully expressed.