Auditions will be held
for the next 50 years.
Here is the role
I'd like you to play.
Here are your lines.
Please learn to say them
properly.
If I don't like
your delivery,
I will correct you
until you get it right.
The script will change
over time.
Please be on the look-out
for your new lines.
Please note:
if you gain
too much weight
or too many grey hairs
I will have to put out
a new casting call.
And if you cannot fill
the role I've created for you
I will just have to find
a better actor.
6 comments:
Hey Polly -
Very fun - especially as I just spent an evening with you and several actors trying to convince you they had what you needed. It was exactly like dating, wasn't it...
That said, I wonder if the last two stanzas are too easy, too pat - I feel like the poem needs to reach for something more...
Here's my suggestion. Get a box. Open the box and show me what you'd be feeling as the narrator of this poem (sorry, couldn't resist...)
A.
Polly, this was fun. I have one small question: what would happen if you moved this line "Here are your lines" to the end?
Fun! Like the one line statements.
Just a thought about form. If you wanted to play with this, you could set this up as a (mock) call for auditions.
Also wonder about changing "will" to "may". Your lines may change. How that reflects back on the speaker, and gives them a bit of vulnerability, maybe they want the same lines over and over.
Oops! I misquoted. The script will/may change over time.
i love the first stanza, polly. and although i like the way it sets up the poem, it could work well at the end too -- just a thought. i love the toughness of this too, reflecting in the short, declarative statements. Great job!
Good metaphor for what we go through trying to find "a part" in life. A bit too accurate for comfort, but the dead-on truth makes it all the more full of truth.
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