BLITHE HEART

(Metromaniacs, Shakespeare Theatre, 13 February 2015)

Blithe heart

you’re acting strange.

These lovebirds’ Act One phase

with fancy turns of phrase

and brainless rhymes seems artifice

then goes where misdirection

forms a masked ball’s timed

surprise.

They switch their roles

en pointe but degagé,

inhabitants of trumped-up rooms

and flashy peau de soie costumes.

Yet silliness on stage finds

echoes in your space --

a comic sympathy

for scribblers who fail to see,

whose sight is blurred

by diction and cliché.

Cartoons they are; but what we all

may be – dim seekers

in an antic wood, whose love

when puckered masks are dropped

might be for art; might be

a player’s made-up part.

From Poets Are Present: An Anthology, Shakespeare Theatre Company, 2015