Lit eZine Vol 10 | p-8 | POETRY | Bad Actors – Manic Sylph Writes… Poetry & Thoughts by Mona Soorma

SHORT POEM

BAD ACTORS
Short Poem by Joss Musgrove Knibb

Three people on stage enacting a Shakespearean play — *AI-Generated Image*

Bottom's lost his blasted place again –
All sound and fury, signifying nothing,
Consistently fluffing every joke.
Shakespeare's plays are full of knob gags;
Folks in rags are kings, and kings are rarely wise,
He takes disguise and forms it into scenes
With meanings meant to highlight
Quite how fatuous our life can be,
Although you need to know your prithee from your pard,
Or they're too hard.

So, here I am this evening, crammed in knee-to-knee.
The repertory company's mangling comedy
More fearsome than they thought, in short
Hell's empty, and all the devils are here. 
Their haughty, overwrought Titania 
Looks green under the grease,
Flanked by stocky Cobweb, Moth, and Peasepod,
And yet, to actors, all the world's a stage.

My neighbour’s eating crisps,
Hunched forward, furrowed browed.
Now is the winter of our discontent
As Bottom fluffs his blasted line again,
And I am struck by how an acting job
Allows the souls who crave acclaim
To take full fathom five of mediocrity,
Yet still get paid.

Except, there's one young girl,
I doubt she's over twenty, but she knows her part.
The light and art she brings to every line –
The meaning she infuses – isn't luck,
She's Puck from fingertips to pointed toes.
Beware, my rose, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster.
I wonder if she knows how good she's going to be,
And if the others hate her, leaving fag-ends in her tea.

She leaves, and Bottom fluffs his line again.
A man can die but once, but this chap’s just expiring on his feet.
Thank God, she’s back. Her sweet, fleet gestures 
Stop a crisp mid-way between the bag and lip,
And magic slips in silently on stage,
And feeling flows directly from the page
Into our ears. Four hundred years and more
Just fall away,
And I, coat off, decide to stay.

Connect with Joss Musgrove Knibb on her website

Joss is head of arts and culture at Lichfield Radio. She is the host of the station’s Classical Bliss show. She is a former journalist and published author of two non-fiction history books. Joss facilitates creative writing workshops and events for adults and runs a weekly creative writing group and monthly spoken word open mic events. She is a member of the Lichfield Garrick Theatre’s development group and a patron of local charities. In 2024, she was shortlisted for the post of Staffordshire Poet Laureate. She has only just begun to submit her poetry to publications and is delighted that she has received a smattering of acceptances so far.