@Haunted - thanks for your kind words - this was indeed a tribute to your Jane Doe poem relocated from the Hudson to the wild West coast of Scotland - so well spotted. You seem to have the knack to inspire so many of us you know.
@cogs - thanks also. I struggled to find a word to place before 'bouquets' to maintain the rhythm and also suggest the 'lovey' adulation so prominent in theatrical circles, hence the use of 'fake'.
H
yes, i have no idea about theatrics, since we really don't have much theater here. i think i would better appreciate the atmosphere if we did. i love the movement you create, also.
Hill, I'm totally humbled, Jane says thank youOriginally Posted by hillwalker
I set out to describe the shore as I had read in your coastal poems but I just don't have it in me. Your poems always open my eyes.
"But do you really, seriously, Major Scobie," Dr. Sykes asked, "believe in hell?"
"In flames and torment?""Oh, yes, I do."
"That sort of hell wouldn't worry me," Fellowes said."Perhaps not quite that. They tell us it may be a permanent sense of loss."
"Perhaps you've never lost anything of importance," Scobie said.
Your choice of topic is quite original, but at the same time has a notable precedent! This piece has similar subject matter with an extremely famous Frost poem:
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/provide-provide/
In fact, just like your typical provincial American, I thought of Hollywood when I saw "West Coast" in the title, and initially read the first stanza/strophe as scouting a film location.
Then I saw that the setting was a stage production of Hamlet, one in which the diva, fortunately seems to escape the fate of many fading actresses,
which may involve substances a bit stronger than "belladonna." This gal merely falls via natural forces. Your allusions to Garbo* and Fonteyn were cleverly ironic. According to an online biography Fonteyn danced well into the 1970s, retiring from dance only because of serious illness, although she lived until 1991. (Look her up--there was a fascinating anecdote involving South American intrigue.) As far as Garbo goes, late in her career, Garbo "stretched" into comedy, hyped with the tagline "Garbo talks!" One of her final films,Two-faced Woman was also a comedy, garnering critical raves but zilch at the b.o. Thus beginning Garbo's famous "I vant to be alone" agoraphobic period.
Neither one, I imagine, ever had to contend with the elements.
Your actress here, though, has no qualms about giving her all, as the platitude goes "the show must go on." In addition to the pitfalls and pratfalls in this particular performance, she has to act through the rude upstaging by the dramatic, dynamic seacoast setting, beautifully depicted by your imagery. Occupational hazard I guess of outdoor productions: in Shakespeare in the Park the troupe has to contend with flying insects, sudden thunderstorms; here the actress fights the wind, not a gentle coastal breeze but a big wind from out in the middle of the ocean-- "pleagic."
I truly enjoyed reading this, and I admire your talent which seems to develop even more with each posting. Bravo!
Auntie
*Now for some comic relief:
http://www.online-literature.com/for...ems#post984071
Last edited by AuntShecky; 12-03-2010 at 07:11 PM.
@Aunty - I'm pleased you found the references to Fonteyn and Garbo less jarring than some posters (not that I would remove them from this poem either way).
And I'm struck by the similarities between this and the Frost poem (purely in terms of subject matter and an empathy for fading Hollywood stars) - not a piece I had come across before I have to admit.
As for performing Shakespeare al fresco - this was essentially a solo performance by the lady in question rather than a full stage production of 'Hamlet' - but a tragedy all the same.
H
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