Thread: The Playwright-King

lacking a patron
(for none would have him)
the playwright-king
mounts his own show
and foists it
on a captive audience
of tone-deaf sycophants
and car-wreck curious

he inhales the noxious vapors
of phony adulation
and so intoxicated
he humps the stage
in a frantic, orgasmic fury
of self-delusion

my show is staged!
he crows between
stilted sonnets
gratuitous guffaws
predictable plot-turns
and mediocre monologues

the gathered, eyes glazed
by the ghastly glow
of borrowed limelight
sit slack-jawed and dazed
by the barrage of banality
and onslaught of pretentious hoo-haw

the show ends
(mercifully)
and the playwright-king
exhausted
by the many pre-ordained
and automatic curtain calls
takes his final bow
and floats from the stage
on the enormous gas-bag
of false approval

outside the gilded, makeshift theatre
discerning throngs rush past
the slap-dash marquee
in a tsunami of indifference

deaf to the roar
of their collective yawns
the exalted hack
slumbers soundly
blanketed by reams
of self-penned praise
on the fluffy featherbed
of his outsized ego
dreaming
of his fantastic, hollow triumph

all hail the playwright-king

awesome work my friend. i know i few people (that i used to work with) this could apply to, i just had to giggle.

great wording, the sounds all well matched and flowing. i have only one crit, and it's fairy minor, a matter of style or inturpretation i guess. i thought your line breaks were fine, didn't feel too choppy, but i felt like i wanted to rush thru the reading faster, perhaps longer line would give it a faster reading. or perhaps that's just me. all the same, i really enjoyed this... good to see you back.

wood

Hey, wood. Thanks for the read and the welcome. I know just what you mean. If does seem to build up a head of steam that makes you read faster as go along. I'm not sure if that's good or not. I did notice that --- and I toyed with longer stanzas, but ultimately arrived at this. It's interesting to me that you had the same feeling, because I kind of thought it was probably just me.

I think most of us know someone kind of like this. Heh. That's what made it fun to write. I'm glad it worked for you.

Cheers!