There one was a man named Malvolio
(A fictional man in a folio)
     Who was played for a fool
     (By some rascals at Yule)
For acting like such an assholio.

I didn't make the cut again,
I guess that makes sense.
I don't look like the characters from the original film,
I'm not blond a skinny like the prince,
I'm not built and burly like the craftsman.
I'm not pudgy like the shopkeeper,
Nor am I silent like the king

But I can act,
I know I can.
Because everyday I act happy,
Wake up and do it again.
I act confident when I'm up on stage,
But maybe they couldn't see it,
After all, I hide it so well.

The truth is,
I'm an actor,
a man upon a stage.
I can feign sorrow,
joy, grief, and rage,
and I do it this well
'cause I've felt them before,
but my heart is not Hamlet's,
nor that which you adore.

The truth is,
I'm a playwright,
I do it for the crowd
who can't put into words
the feelings they've found.
I write them like Shakespeare,
how I think it would be
to stand in their shoes
and to see as they see.

The truth is,
I'm a poet,
but I've never been divorced,
I've never had a nasty breakup,
I've never been to war.
I've never really been a dancer,
I've never sailed the seven seas,
I've never lost a friend to cancer,
nor seen eyes close in final peace.

The truth is
that I hope
those who read my works
don't mind
that quite often
it's the characters
and not the stories
that are mine.

Vanity lights.
Production sets.
Heat on high.
Dim lit.
Fame is all in your head.

Truffles in the air.
Wine stained carpets.
Knife over the bed.
Lipstick bruises.
The low numbers aren't fair.

A throbbing migraine or two.
Smoke envelopes the halls.
Hushhh, play another lullaby.
Of course not all dreams come true.
There'll always be a new one, more than you.

Many laugh and many sing.
Many mouths sit agape with a cheek-to-cheek grin.
Fire swirls in the air as the acrobats swing—
Elephants weep, extravagently, with a tusk-to-tusk grin.

Amidst the cages, monkeys sit,
Faces pressed against the bars,
Rubbing their *******, dreaming of the trees
From which they would swing.

The freaks and the clowns sit amidst lurid lights—
Applying their faces with a cheek-to-cheek grin—
Constructing their masks, aided by the conjure of the magicians,
Those who draw salt from the air and harbour apparitions.

On stage now: Rotondo, the clown.
He dances, naked, with an ear-to-ear grin,
Rubbing his *******-belly, penetrating the mind of the Big-top ring,
Shrouded by the coiling laughter of an audience who yearn for the lights of deformed suffocation as Rotondo, the clown, paints a new face and ushers in a parade of freaks and deformed grins.

She’s a devil in real time,
Just hiding in disguise,
Her veins full of fire,
You can see, the flames in her eyes,
With horns, on her chest,
That use to point up high,
She’ll lead you straight to hell,
With her mouth full of lies.
She’s stopped counting,
How many, she’s lead to their grave,
Her only goal, in life,
Is personal greed every day.
Fooling endless victims,
Who thinks she is so kind,
Then she walks away laughing,
When their life falls behind.
Conceded is a complement,
When you mention her name,
She thinks,
That the world revolves around her,
And her selfish games.
She’s a devil in real life,
Hiding in disguise,
Her veins full of fire,
You can see the flames, in her eyes.


The Original : Tom Maxwell   rewritten  8/17/2024 AD
Originally written  2007 AD

my mom called, i cried by the dhall, on facetime
been thinking about how lucky we are to be alive
even if to deal with mornings and swollen eyes
even if dad's always on the night shift, even with
this big rift caused by the distance and the lack of time
just because we made out once doesn't mean you're mine
i got glimpses of a pink top, my blanket of a jacket
i bet it would look classier if you were wearing it
but you're distant and cold and partying is getting old
i'm forever out of polaroid film and cheap distractions
so i took an amtrak home, straight from south station
the flight back to boston was short but still exhausting
and when i walk home alone, the silence is unsettling
seems we're both better than i thought at method acting