Each poor human delusion
Amplified by the actor’s mask
I’d sooner stay at home
Sipping espresso e aqua
In my corner pavement café
Though this is not a bolt-hole
From the theatre –
These passers-by
Surely they are extras
From sword and sandal epics –
Always clad in Armani
They stroll about in a bubble
Of self-regarding soap
When did the world
Become like this
A playground
For the narcissist?
Self-publicists
Outweigh good sense
Preening on the Internet
Then from a corner of your home
Reality T.V.
Distracts you from reality
If they should make me Caesar
I will not become ‘a Caesar’
But elude the dipping in purple dye
That amplifies all character
Then like an actor’s mask
Inflates the smallest defect
I’ll keep my rough Greek cloak
And reject the duck-down pallet
When I choose to sleep on the floor
.
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
.