{"id":1031,"date":"2013-09-04T13:28:42","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2013-09-04T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T18:28:42","slug":"poem-stage-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/04\/poem-stage-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Stage Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stage Coach<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One day<\/span>
\nI lost my script<\/span>
\nAnd was taken back<\/span>
\nOnly to have scene<\/span>
\nThe other actors<\/span>
\nGuise<\/span>
\nNow<\/span>
\nIn the audience<\/span>
\nHaving won<\/span>
\nMore stage<\/span>
\nContracted<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a good example of one of my elegantly ambiguous poems, playing off multiple meanings, creating tensions for the reader to resolve on their own. \u00a0The general theme plays off “real” acting and the role each of us plays on life’s stage. \u00a0The stage is set in motion by losing one’s script. \u00a0For actors this could be a crisis. \u00a0In real life, this could be a real blessing and launchpad to freedom. Being “taken back” can mean “surprised” or “to lose one’s footing;” or to return to an earlier time, perhaps a more innocent or true time; or to be accepted back by the other actors for yet another scene. Is moving from “guise” to authenticity a stage? \u00a0Within the tension of guise and authenticity is the alternating roles of actor and audience member. \u00a0So how does one participate on life’s stage without either acting or simply being relegated to a passive observer? \u00a0Is “winning” getting a greater role on stage or somehow transcending the stage itself? \u00a0The last line, last word, “contracted” is at least a triple pun. \u00a0Contracted can mean having signed (won?) a contract. \u00a0Contracted can mean made smaller. \u00a0Contracted can mean coming down with a disease.<\/p>\n

The title, Stage Coach<\/em>, lies outside the formal purview of the poem, much like the realm of metaphysics or God, offering a hint, but ample uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Of course, the poem and title conjure up the monologue and poem,”All the World’s a Stage,”<\/a> in the play, As You Like It<\/em>, by William Shakespeare:<\/p>\n

All the world’s a stage,<\/em>
\nAnd all the men and women merely players;<\/em>
\nThey have their exits and their entrances,<\/em>
\nAnd one man in his time plays many parts,<\/em>
\nHis acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,<\/em>
\nMewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.<\/em>
\nThen the whining schoolboy, with his satchel<\/em>
\nAnd shining morning face, creeping like snail<\/em>
\nUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,<\/em>
\nSighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad<\/em>
\nMade to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,<\/em>
\nFull of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,<\/em>
\nJealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,<\/em>
\nSeeking the bubble reputation<\/em>
\nEven in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,<\/em>
\nIn fair round belly with good capon lined,<\/em>
\nWith eyes severe and beard of formal cut,<\/em>
\nFull of wise saws and modern instances;<\/em>
\nAnd so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts<\/em>
\nInto the lean and slippered pantaloon,<\/em>
\nWith spectacles on nose and pouch on side;<\/em>
\nHis youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide<\/em>
\nFor his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,<\/em>
\nTurning again toward childish treble, pipes<\/em>
\nAnd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,<\/em>
\nThat ends this strange eventful history,<\/em>
\nIs second childishness and mere oblivion,<\/em>
\nSans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, if you are a playwright, everything looks like a stage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stage Coach One day I lost my script And was taken back Only to have scene The other actors Guise Now In the audience Having won More stage Contracted This is a good example of one of my elegantly ambiguous … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[398,391,476,115,65,559,402,359,306,548,594,658,94,696,53,529,287],"class_list":["post-1031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-authenticity","tag-blessing","tag-disease","tag-freedom","tag-god","tag-history","tag-justice","tag-life","tag-metaphysics","tag-modern","tag-play","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-shakespeare","tag-short-poems","tag-time","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Stage Coach | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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