This may be obvious to anyone paying attention, but I have of late had Shakespeare on the brain. It’s a pattern with me, I think. The last time I took on a role in a Shakespeare play the same thing happened: my entire creative output became infused by the bard. Trying to write songs inContinue reading “#201: ABC Shakespeare”
Tag Archives: NaPoWriMo
#199: A Poem from Director’s Notes
A Poem from Director’s Notes (for Michael Mendelson) Move the language forward. Move the language, lift the language. To whom are you talking? There are only three possibilities: the earth, the gods, or another human being. If it happens to be a human being, ask yourself: how do I feel about the person I amContinue reading “#199: A Poem from Director’s Notes”
#198: On the Edge (a book spine poem)
For today’s book spine poem, I find these gems in the green room during another 10 hour rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet. I’m feeling particularly inspired. It could be a two poem kind of day. On The Edge The classical monologues and scenes for women, by women telling tales with all the timing in theContinue reading “#198: On the Edge (a book spine poem)”
#197: Lord Capulet Speaks of the Unspeakable
Note: Here’s a persona poem in which the speaker is aware of his author/creator and for which the writer/actor slaved all day to make the damn thing rhyme and then asked one of his fellow actors to take a picture of him as Lord Capulet. Also, this poem responds to the napowrimo optional prompt in a kindContinue reading “#197: Lord Capulet Speaks of the Unspeakable”
#196: The Actor’s Nightmare
He stirs in the middle of the night, suddenly certain there are speeches in the play that he’s missed, didn’t even know were his, and on which he has not yet begun to work–days before dress rehearsal. In his sleep these lines appear with vivid specificity; he can hear the words and see the typeface and they seem every bit as realContinue reading “#196: The Actor’s Nightmare”
#195: Curtains
I hold her body in my arms, dead and not dead, my child and not my child. I am Lord Capulet and Kate is Juliet. In life we are virtual strangers, but on stage, I hold her in my arms and under the hot stage lights I weep for her death, or close to it. IContinue reading “#195: Curtains”
#194: On the Occasion of Working an Eight Hour Teaching Day and then Moving Directly to a Five Hour Rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet and Not Having Time to Write a Poem
In this moment I sit in the green room and write a poem when I should be working my lines.
#193: A Meditation on Missing a Day of Meditation After 28 Consecutive Days of Meditation
I woke up this morning with a kind of sinking feeling: something was amiss; and then I realized that yesterday I did not meditate. I missed my first day of meditation after 28 consecutive days of meditation. So, while I meditated this morning, it was difficult to quiet the mind, difficult to appease the internalContinue reading “#193: A Meditation on Missing a Day of Meditation After 28 Consecutive Days of Meditation”
#192: April is Not the Cruelest Month
April is Not the Cruelest Month There’s nothing cruel about April, except for the fact that it’s not May, and the only problem with May is that it’s not June. June may be, in my humble opinion, the kindest month of all. If I had to choose, though, a replacement for T.S. Eliot’s cruelest (what was heContinue reading “#192: April is Not the Cruelest Month”
#191: On Walking Through My Neighborhood, Currently Under Construction, With the Time-Lapse Camera on My Phone
For day three of National Poetry Writing Month, I take a walk through my neighborhood, currently under construction, with a time lapse camera. Here’s the poem I harvested on the experience. On Walking Through My Neighborhood, Currently Under Construction, With the Time Lapse Camera on My Phone “And it goes fast; you think of the past:Continue reading “#191: On Walking Through My Neighborhood, Currently Under Construction, With the Time-Lapse Camera on My Phone”
michael jarmer 