Friday 15 August 2014

HE HAD BEEN REPLACED BY an ACTOR

 This week's poem came to me as good as complete, a rare gift. I actually don't want to talk about the background, I'd rather leave you to work that out for yourselves.

Encounter

Sometime since the last meeting
he had been replaced by an actor,
similar to be true, but older
and slightly more coarse, who
riffed off his own allusions rather
than answer, your, well meaning questions.
He was angry, that was plain,
manifest in the little jibes
that made you uncomfortable.

His old self was missing in action,
lost in a sequence of interventions
almost as savage as his internal process;
neural pathways are consuming themselves with a reckless abandon,
and uncertain futures hover on his shoulders.

 It feels like autumn has arrived early this year. There is that almost intangible change in the air. Next weekend is the Purbeck Folk Festival and I am gearing up for a weekend of good music.
Here is someone who isn't on - The Mountain Goats. 

2 comments:

  1. I've often wondered whether people are playing the part of the person they want to be which would explain when they suddenly start ''acting out of character'. Maybe they are only changing character after all.. You've taken it to a next dimension! Bit like that Shakespeare ''All the World's A Stage' speech.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Carol. I think that you could be right for some people. They may be playing a part most of the time. Sometimes the change can be very noticeable

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