Best Acting Poems
. Acting Out
Standing, lying, falling, crawling, I keep trying, crying, lying, rhyming, love is blinding
I play, obey, eat, -I digest, caress the softness, when I'm blinking, I'm found sinking
I find myself thinking, walking, talking, mocking, craving, misbehaving, and dreaming
Shake, break, my heart can't take, I smile, in style, small thoughts, are all I got
I'm lazy, hazy, I get crazy, I shout, when in doubt, Acting Out, that's what I'm all about
By:)
Look at this smile on my face, do I look sad and alone.
With no one to give me love, and no one to call my own.
Can you look into my eyes, see them filled with happiness.
Would you ever realize, my life is in such a mess.
Chorus:
I should be a movie star,
for playing this happy guy.
While holding back all the tears,
trying so hard not to cry.
I should win a gold Oscar,
for the way I’ve lived my life.
While my heart’s in so much pain,
like it’s being cut out with a knife
You know you can’t judge a book, until you’ve read every line.
Or feel how much it hurts, to know you’ll never be mine.
Seems like an eternity, of singing these happy songs.
While trying to fool the world, into thinking nothing’s wrong.
Chorus:
Look at this smile on my face,
do I look sad and alone.
With no one to give me love,
and no one to call my own.
While holding back those tears,
trying so hard not to cry.
They should give me an Oscar,
for playing such a happy guy.
They say if I wait enough, the right one will come along.
True love will one day find me, and I’ll know where I belong
Until that happens my friend…
I’ll put on my smile again…
I’ll laugh and try to pretend…
That I have not reached the end…
They will hand me my Oscar, cause I’m such a happy guy.
Alone In The Dressing Room: Just Before Curtain Up
Oh Yes! My career!.. It's behind me.
And the bright lights I’d worked so hard for
Now they’ve airbrushed my face
That looks so out of place
On that poster they’ve stuck to my door.
My name is no longer top billing
It’s been pushed further down out of view
By some rich kid who blogs
From his channel of vlogs
And gets paid just to like all this too.
The curtain goes up in five minutes
But I think it should really stay down
They haven’t a clue
What real actors do
On the stage in this backwater town.
I’m the oldest guy here in this cesspit
And this dressing room’s cramped and too cold
The 'luvvies' will shout
That I’ve sadly sold out
Unlike seats for this show so I’m told.
I’m supposed to walk out there all happy
To some kids who just couldn’t care less
And keep 'doing my thing'
And get them to sing
- I’m washed out, fed up and a mess.
A Knock On The Dressing Room Door: Not Long After Curtain Down
I just wanted to say a big 'Thank You!'
The three of us had a great time
I’m not sure where to start
So I’ll speak from my heart
We loved you and your great pantomime.
My husband and I brought our ill son
And now value what laughter is worth
We saw sickness displaced
By wide smiles on his face
Despite his short time left on earth.
You brought us much joy, light and comfort
From the stage to the seats where we sat
No medicine or pills
Can cure our son's ills
But for two hours - tonight - you did that!
Random thoughts flutter across a page
And take shape in verses of expression
Reflecting the notions of the poet/sage.
While the actor repeats upon the stage
Phrases acting out playwright’s impression
Random thoughts flutter across a page.
Both painting portraits of love and rage
In concise words, the writer’s profession,
Reflecting the notions of the poet/sage.
Visually the reader will absorb, engage,
Theatergoers easily observe the passion
Random thoughts flutter across a page.
Poets create images like a bird in a cage
Their poems coming in and out of fashion,
Reflecting the notions of the poet/sage.
The value of writers the public will gauge
Sometimes without the proper caution
Random thoughts flutter across a page
Reflecting the notions of the poet/sage.
Written May 13, 2022
#51 on the BEST POEMS LIST
June 12, 2022
Type casting Pirates of Penzance
Lining up those who’ll sing and dance
Some aced the illusion
Others beyond delusion
Laughing so hard I wet my pants
AP: 3rd place 2020, Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on April 8, 2019 for contest PIRATE THEMED LIMERICK sponsored by TANIA KITCHIN - RANKED 4TH
Frankie boy, go get my gun
Here comes those
pitchfork carrying citizens
They’re so scary angry and uninformed
Holding torches, they plan on
doing more than burn crosses on our lawn
Frankie boy, load up the old shotgun
Time to send those
trespassing rabble rousers on the run
Lead pellets gonna spray paint the yard
Red is the color
of the devil’s favorite corpse calling card
Frankie boy, tap the trigger on the gun
Time for us to start blending in ...
acting American
Tap the hair trigger on the gun again
Assimilating more metal violence
will make us double blessed American
Frankie boy, you’re my only son
Time to teach you
the wisdom of the smoking gun
See all of those jackrabbits run
Some got unlucky feet,
now they’re dead and done
Frankie boy, cool the gun barrel’s hot metal skin
It’s a frosty good start to blending in ...
acting like real Americans
Frankie boy, I loved you since day one
Go gather the cadavers,
the lightning is soon gonna come
Time for you to have some brothers and sisters galore
So go tell your doctor father and Igor —
we’re Americans, we ain’t acting like monsters no more!
Having walked the path for so long,
Trying his best just to belong,
One day he realized every step he took
Moved him further away from himself
Every stride just disappeared,
As soon as it appeared…
‘Cause he was living someone else’s dream
Striving to make them happy,
In the process he became unhappy
He forgot what it meant to smile,
Even if just for a while…
The path he chose didn’t bring him joy
He might have smiled, act the fool
Everyone thought he was so cool,
They didn’t see the tears at night
The confusion he had to fight,
To be the entertainer every minute of everyday
Never showing the man behind the smile
Never showing the mêlée stains...
Oh noo' It has happened again.! I thought we had escaped the continual scene:
forever falling down, and ya know what people actually celebrate it..?
and we'd thought we were safe here) a place where you had sympathetic support,
ITS NO GOOD..! that's what it isn't..' at last here was a chance at last to get time to
create our own poems, after being famous for all this time..' and we never had the chance
of creating our own stuff..' at least when we were killed off out there it was only by the
cretins..! now it has happened here, its a spiritual thing, sob.' boo-hoo, I saw the
shadow though..! it was a pale one..and we felt a vindictive force, and then our whole
new world shattered.' I wonder how would some like it? you have been being pushed about since
1643, whoever did it must be a cold hearted and lonely person..' I remember reading
reading some lines somewhere about just such a writer, hmm..' and now I'm a ghost and its
all down to someone..! Dumpty...that is who I am now..And down in the dumps BUT I AM MAD
MAD MAD and determined..! I can get revenge, I shall snoop in on any soup mail & nasty remarks
and so on; I can do that because I am a ghost now..! we had such a hard life early on at
the abbey farm there was ole aunt Patricia she was strict always minding our p's & q's
for us always saying we didn't do enough, then after Dad left us 'I was hard' but I never wanted
to be lost and nasty like she was, oh she was a stickler for 'rules' pashaaaw...! never
changed her life though did they...? hmmm, what to do next.? I don't know though if I
really should go down that road, it would be a contradiction of all I have tried to live, by
even through that nasty war, right up to now I suppose..' look! if I became like that I would
probably be going around with a horrible hot anger inside me, it would be like a big heavy
stone where my heart should be..! Oh you know what I mean.! and what would I do next.?
after I track them down.. after, I DESTROY THEM UTTERLY))) what then old egg? I
don't know what to do I feel as if I am being 'almost coerced ' here.. and I've heard
about the other place..' its hot they say, with a big black iron round thing..' I don't think
I would like it there, Oh if only Humpty and Dumpty could be here together again..'
What I really wanted to do was
Have a little fluffy buzz
All the flashing lights
Were ever so bright
In the evening night
The carpet ever so red
Does it know how much I am in debt?
Hopefully this roll will work
There will be food on my fork
Trying to make it here
Wondering how many guys are watching with a six pack of beer
But I will be a star
Not at some local rural bar
Instead on the wooden screen
Where everyone will pay attention to my fearful scream
You see I am in the first scene
This is my modeling dream
To get knocked off
While making out in the barn loft
Reading scripture
In a moving picture
Scheduled for a limited run
At midnight everyone will have fun
Only a few minutes my character will be done
Venturing outside the big city
Acting enthusiastic and witty
Then tomorrow I will head to another gig
Pitching household goods or the Christmas pig
Getting away with my good looks
While reading way too many books
Wondering if I should study how to cook
Then I can appear talking in the morning
Career now is really soaring
Offers start coming in
Celebrity status accompanied with a shot of gin
Reclining back in my director’s seat
Reflecting about the time when I was innocent and sweet
Those were precious memories indeed
Since that was when they planted my bad seed
My notion at its most masochistic
The crowd, laughs, quite the kick.
I've never enjoyed anything more
The art is my greatest lore.
It's the only life I'd ever pick.
I come from a family of thespians
Who turned hiding their problems into art.
Inside these walls,
We cry. We yell.
But from within these walls,
The sounds never depart.
Yet,
somewhere among the act,
I lost the talent.
My heart can't hide anymore.
My eyes sting, my throat burns--
They're all pretending
but my heart's just too sore.
What show will be my final?
In what performance will I truly break?
I keep pushing to my limits,
I swallow the pain but
I'm full past what I can take.
Things aren't the same,
They may never be.
But, that's okay because
the only person I really have is me.
I scream into the abyss,
and bleed on those who never cut me.
Yet, I tuck it all away
Like the world cannot see.
Maybe the biggest actress of all is me.
Acting as if the pain is transparent--
Like there's nothing to set free.
While those who really love me
stand at arms length,
As I push with all I have,
They beg me to let them love me.
Oh, how easy to see:
The biggest pretender is me.
Our earlier actions have bearing on tomorrow,
No matter how minuscule in persuasion they be.
Oft times some reaction toted with it, sorrows,
Undulating toward others who didn't agree.
At times when acting when void of thought,
Assuming our choices would affect just one.
Futile attempts to undo guided us to naught,
Because no action taken ever became undone.
When I look in the mirror each morning
This strange dude stands there sending me a warning
Smarten up there dude
Stop acting like a boob
Or a big lump on the head you'll be adorning
© Jack Ellison 2016
acting is a job
something you don't get paid
you do it so well
A lady of the night nicknamed “Poopsy”
Had the most adorable pair of boobies
On a scale of one to ten
They were twenty, amen
Prompting me to lose it and start acting tutti fruity
© Jack Ellison 2015