THE COMEDIANS’ TRAGEDY
My role is that of the Court Jester
also known as the Tudor Harlequin Clown,
I am much more than just a set of jokes
in front of audience members.
I wish to be a Shakespearean actor
but that is a fact nobody remembers.
To perform in tragedies,
to make the spectators not laugh but frown.
Anything from playing Romeo to Macbeth
while wearing his bloody crown!
The theatre life I want! Not the court life which is
as cold as the air in December.
I have tried time and time again but not prevailed.
I need to succeed by this new September.
I auditioned for many characters,
even Lady Macbeth while wearing her bloody gown!
At last, a new audition has come
up for a new Shakespeare play!
If I fail, what shall
I do hereafter?
After acting my heart out for the audition,
my mouth turned to the taste of morello.
To hear what I had been cast as that day;
am I bound to a life of laughter?
I find myself playing the
Clown from the tragedy of Othello…
said The Fool to Othello,
and every great actor,
still not listening
Meet me half way through the labyrinth
I am satisfied with getting somewhere
No regrets!
I call spades!
Yes ! I’m really obsessive
rather, also too possessive ,
mostly acting impulsive—
brain being too much sensitive
and mind becoming just hollow .
My sweet heart is my obsession
I can't control my emotion
igniting always my passion.
I'm always in tension ,
when my mind may outburst and blow.
A psychological defect !
Even simply can't tolerate
to see a male associate
or normal male friend to accept :
Tough mental state of Othello
At last appeared that event
leaving me only to lament.
I murdered her and will repent -
as I found, she was innocent.
Me ! A Mischievous fellow !
i will go out with a bang here
give me maple syrup and vanilla bean paste
and this continues into the weekend
as a confused barista takes my order
i drink the vanilla mocha in the car
as i drive us over one hundred kilometres
with a boatload of sausages and pies
and scotch eggs
i believe in a cruel God, who has created me in his likeness
i feel the primeval slime within me
i was born from the vileness of some germ or base atom
i believe that an honest man is a jeering buffoon
i take the last gurgling rasp of the beverage;
i have become a deliberate mess
once
again
the warmth
of sunshine
showered my being
awakening the inkwell of mind
overflowing in musing contemplations
of allegorical messages
of a fertile womb
of mind seeking to inoculate
others against infectious
lies of deceit
sowing apathtic seeds towards
empty scales of justice
and plowing
that pandemic-abracadabra
oppressor syndrome
that we must uproot
in the awareness
of ancient poetic-tragedies
being a thing of the past
and that we must be even stronger
than that ancient survivor*
whose torched memory
ignites burning spears
of seasonal reaities
shaping the fall
of winter-like discontentment
ushering in the springing
of our rooted renewed
liberating spirits...
*Othello
TODAY’S LESSON…
Shakespeare staged the world;
the auction block a memic—
Othello, its prize:-
Truth is always deep;
revealing reality—
liberating minds:-
Truth’s love never lies;
untwisting false-sucking tongues—
revealing itself:-
Flora caught some fireflies
in her little jar one night.
She once caught some butterflies,
but they did not glow as bright.
She also caught cicadas,
and she housed them in a tin;
in the night, they made a buzz,
which was a terrible din.
Spiders, too, she kept at home
and she named them Jeb and Deb,
around her room, they would roam
stop in corners, make a web.
She once kept a little worm,
a squiggly little fellow,
that made her mother squirm,
she named this one Othello!
Flora kept all creepy things
even once a bumbly bee.
In the end, they all had wings;
as each morn, she set them free.
To want something strongly felt
is to admit how the fire is burning...
until it suddenly explodes inside;
and if it leaves one hanging,
express it without thinking twice:
could it always remain silent?
From one lover to another
my enthusiasm has turned sour,
not showing my charm to smother,
to deceit and have fun;
I fed my ego of mad fool,
taking all and breaking every rule...
while my true intention
wasn't to be faithful to only one!
I hate this refrain sung to me,
" Silly, silly man this is hilarious,
a satire is not written for someone free
who sees himself as invincible as Eddie:
a person far from kind and generous!
From one lover to another,
the circle has gotten smaller,
nobody trusts me, they think I'm Othello;
they avoid me, they don't say a single hello!
Don't threat women the selfish way I did,
don't leave a trail of undesirable regrets;
romance stories aren't written by pretty playboys,
by cheaters who build their castles in sea sand!
Hey, Billy you walked among the blind,
they had no reason to be kind;
hey, Billy you carried no single weight on your shoulders,
and saw no street beggar stretching his empty hands.
Was I the good-hearted man who gave all,
never thinking I would be appreciated,
and get a warm hug or a welcoming hello?
I didn't do it to raise eyebrows and be praised...
you should have done and save poor Othello
from his misery, today he wouldn't feel small!
Hey, Billy you walked among the blind,
stopped by the corner store and bought
a loaf of bread and didn't share a bit;
your coldness was never left behind!
Was I mean and cruel, walking past need,
and eyes as red as blood? I stopped and listened;
rich men are too busy to even notice poverty;
and while the wheel spins, so does their luck...
if I ever saw you on the sidewalk begging for money,
I wouldn't stare and judge...but dig in my pocket!
Cowardly this loathsome fellow
In old west they’d call him yellow
I guess that was his biggest flaw
Jealous greater than Othello
He wanted more, the more he saw
Hauling around his gaping jaw
What’s to come of this man of greed
Lied until his scruples were raw
He stole from innocents in need
It would run green if he did bleed
So a deal with the devil struck
To warnings he refused to heed
After years of passing the buck
It seems this man ran out of luck
His broker dragged him down to hell
One more trade up a sleeve to pluck
Scamming incoming clientele
He found a job he could do well
Now he is Satan’s man in charge
Of telemarket personnel
In mystery wrapped
Forever behind the scenes
Did he pen King Lear
Othello, Hamlet ~ or was
He a Midsummer's Night Dream
In the jumbled backyard of mind
they arrive in dark cowls,
gather behind an inverse eye,
wait there for the eyes themselves
to flip those images over into
a word chewing anger.
Manikins move in those shadows,
tussle in a muted violent parody
of action and reaction.
There is blood, it is dark,
it is cloudy.
War begins at the eyebrows,
mittens fumble
with small caliber ammo,
deadly enough but not explosive,
claws must grapple
beyond the roar of the pulse.
Suddenly you see her
not in her fury but yours;
storms subside into summer showers,
a mock performance of Othello
exits stage left, a shamefaced cast
comically admitting the farce.
"I am a fool
and I don’t deserve you."
Breast heaving, she turns away
to repaint her emotions
for a moment hating that she
loves you,
yet knowing she has won again
another blindfolded battle.
William Shakespeare's plays, as most people know
have been around for four hundred years or so.
The Bard wrote plays that were comedies.
He also composed works that are tragedies.
"Twelfth Night" and "As You Like It" are in the former category.
"Romeo and Juliet" would be considered a tragedy.
Both kinds of plays were written with great quality.
"Hamlet", "Julius Caesar", "Othello" and "King Lear"
are what most folks prefer, it would appear.
This makes me want to ask: "what's going on here?"
Preference for tragedies I cannot see;
especially with all the shootings in the news recently.
Over "Macbeth", I like "Much Ado About Nothing".
In the end, all the characters dance and sing.
Two couples get married, and wedding bells ring.
Oh how wonderful it is to have a happy ending!
Nobody gets killed, and everything turns out nice.
Doesn't anybody here like to throw rice?
Inspired by Shakespeare's works and the 1960 hit song "Let's Think About Living" by the late Bob Luman.
YELLOW
Called him yellow?
He must be an Albino!
The point aimed at is this fellow
But the yellow must always mellow
Acting the Shakespearian Othello.
No true friends in the ghetto
Except you are hood and get-on.
Adorned naturally with a color enticing unease,
Jaundice, his name, and "Alfin" joined to his,
Names that causes 'All Eyes On Me'
Wondered what life would be
If he had been a black coffee
L. Custance ask: who are the truly bothersome blokes?
Not the one, the butt of some jokes
But the one his exemplary life chokes
And ends well better than his folks
To remove this dandruff from this shoddy native land
Stand on his watch, he'd be a better brand
This prose, he knew and incubated;
THIS ON-THE-SPOT POETRY he marinated
Is to accomplish many task,
Ask Ken L. Custance, for instance
Who inspired this lofty lines,
Created and embellished by our great minds.
VickWizzy
Vick Manuel Poetry {VMP}
Copyright © 10th March, 2017.
Othello man;
O my brother my sister;
I am convinced;
So I am convinced;
I do insist;
that they cared nothing;
That stands can separate us and I;
From God love;
God's love O God's love;
God's love;
~
Providence the evils;
My good or bad choices;
No Angels or demons;
My fears that I dread voices in my head;
I do insist that they cared nothing for me
I stand but nothing can separate us from..
God's love, God's love;
God's love;
God's love;
420/20
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr 2020
Romans 8:38
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