April’s Greatest Hits: Audio Poems

So it was that during all of April I wrote poems, 32 of them to be precise, in celebration of National Poetry Writing Month. And they all, or most of them, turned out to be about this guy, or at least inspired by this guy, the Bard from Stratford Upon Avon, because, as you mayContinue reading “April’s Greatest Hits: Audio Poems”

#217: Poem on the 26th of the Month of April

My head is empty of poems; instead it’s full of Shakespeare, trying to hold on to my lines even though the run is over. I found myself running some of them today for no other reason than to see if I could do it. My mind is full of The Flaming Lips because I’ve been listening toContinue reading “#217: Poem on the 26th of the Month of April”

#215: The Actor “Decides” the Last Scene is Four Lines Too Long and Does Some Spontaneous Editing On Stage

Moving through the last show of the run, it was hard to contain my happiness. Through the first four acts I felt downright giddy. It was difficult to suppress the smiles and there was a kind of laughter inside, too flattering sweet to be substantial. I was happy the run was near an end butContinue reading “#215: The Actor “Decides” the Last Scene is Four Lines Too Long and Does Some Spontaneous Editing On Stage”

#214: Lord Capulet Interrogates Michael Jarmer in a Closing Night Sonnet

First things first: Happy birthday, Bill! It’s been a super rough year. The loss of Bowie, Rickman et. al., and just days ago now, the devastating loss of Prince, makes one super conscious of the fragility of life, especially when our heroes fall, heroes who seemed to us untouchable and timeless, almost god-like. But now, involvedContinue reading “#214: Lord Capulet Interrogates Michael Jarmer in a Closing Night Sonnet”

#204: During Act Two, Capulet Writes A Poem

I know what’s coming. It’s happened before, as if in a loop, in exactly the same way each time and it never ends well. But I’m always surprised: the shouting in the streets, the alarm, the subsequent chaos, my wife charging into the fray screaming bloody murder over the death of nephew Tybalt. And I’mContinue reading “#204: During Act Two, Capulet Writes A Poem”

#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”

#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”