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$CLOUT Poetry - All the World’s a Stage… but the Stages Are Empty | CloutPub
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$CLOUT Poetry - All the World’s a Stage… but the Stages Are Empty

ramblingrose

A spoken word poem about the lack of options for creatives during the lockdown.

alternate text

“All the world’s a stage…”

Really?

Those famous words of Shakespeare
Are now chased by a new altercation
That coins us a new phrase

That can be spoken on every tongue
And echoed through every street
A never-ending artless gallery
That we’re getting charged equally to attend
Even though most of us can’t meet our own ends

We’re in a loveless marriage with the stages
Because the stages are empty

If the greats could see what’s become of us now…
The game’s been paused for so long
That all the men and women are forgetting how to play it

And how sad is that thought?
Knowing full well that they’re being benched from their own lives

We are watching from a distance right now
Eager to move the pieces around
Yet we still see our peers moving freely across the board
As if they had no idea
Oblivious to the dangers
Or fully aware
That’s neither here nor there when you are intentionally insulting us
The ones playing by the rules

To those who have set themselves in the boundaries
Spotting blatant cheaters fill eyes with red
And glimmers of green from time to time

So I say… go ahead and play your game
On my board that I watch you defile
Pratt about and be the Joker with an audience of one
Use the stages that aren’t ready for you yet

Just don’t scream blue murder when you’re disqualified

I guess for now our stages have shrunk
And platforms have been invented anew
For those voices that need a place to release themselves
And boundlessly askew
What the so-called “leaders” and mass-produced feeders
Serve up for us next
Hoping that it would give our leaking guts some well-needed rest

So I’m resting mine
I’ve listened to those who make sense of why the stages are all empty
And are waiting patiently
Until all games resume
Until we can play together again.

© Rambling Rose, 2021. All rights reserved.

🌹 Thanks for reading. I ramble on while the world goes crazy. Come pull up a seat and watch with me.

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