Tag Archives: poem

#209: 35 Years Later, The Actor Playing Capulet Remembers Auditioning for Romeo

I was 16 when I auditioned for Romeo. I got Mercutio instead and I was happy about that because that guy has the best death scene in all of literature. But in preparation for my Romeo audition I carved out a space in my brain for Romeo’s balcony soliloquy and I still know it to this day, 35Continue reading “#209: 35 Years Later, The Actor Playing Capulet Remembers Auditioning for Romeo”

#208: Lord Capulet Cleans Out His Chakra House

Down there in the red Root the ground is slipping. That navel orange Sacral space is pretty much on fire and my Solar Plexis spins like a drunken dervish on a yellow sun. All the Heart Stuff bubbles and boils dangerously toward destruction, comes up green in my throat and I find myself shouting all the time. Finally,Continue reading “#208: Lord Capulet Cleans Out His Chakra House”

#203: Capulet Speaks of His Daughter’s Grief

Today’s assignment from napowrimo is to write a thing called a san san (three three in Chinese), a form that incorporates a particular rhyme scheme pattern coupled with the repetition of three images three times throughout the eight line poem. That’s a mouthful. It was difficult. In fact, I failed somewhat with the form. My poemContinue reading “#203: Capulet Speaks of His Daughter’s Grief”

#201: ABC Shakespeare

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”

#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”