I can't just let the poem speak for itself, because it is too long for the "main entry" box, and I don't want to split it up into two parts, half in "main entry," and half in "extended entry," so here I am, writing this silly preamble, because I figure it looks better than just typing
ACME SPACE FILLER
ACME SPACE FILLER
ACME SPACE FILLER
over and over again. Anyway, enjoy, and please write a comment if it makes you feel anything.
Each of us is an actor.
They don't tell you that in a celebrity-hungry culture
They want you to believe that a select few
Can do that thing.
That thing that makes people liberal,
Hollywood Elite,
Influential.
But I act every day.
In my small region,
I am "the biodiesel guy".
I have worked on carving that niche
For over three years now
And counting.
It gets so that
I have to withdraw
From society
After work-
My wife and I dissolve
Into blurrier shapes
And try our best
To disappear into domestic duties
At the house.
I have found that acting
Isn't so bad,
Though.
This feels better than holding up a sign at a protest.
Sunny and I agree on that.
This feels better than screaming hatred.
That's pretty easy to tell.
This feels better than the sound of people's voices
When they say the word, "activist".
I'm alive. Already active.
Or when they say the word, "environmentalist".
I live in the environment. I live on its resources. I want to live.
Acting isn't so bad
Because it has made me feel important.
I have a role, and I play it
Because it gives me power
To expect more from myself everyday.
It gives me a creative outlet.
I am the mother of a child that came from my head.
I am watching a movement that I helped create
Grow and mature,
Warts and all.
I encourage people to become actors, not activists.
Find your role
And give birth to its children
Instead of
Yelling
Bitching
Moaning
None of that
Will ever
Make it go away.
Remember- away is a fiction.
It is where trash is supposedly thrown,
But have you ever been there?
Do you want to be?
I know you want to be important.
I know you wonder how to find out
w h a t i t a l l m e a n s.
Be an actor
Do it well
Preserve yourself
For when you go home
I will applaud
And know
Enough
About your efforts
In the end,
No matter how the magazines
And TVs
And radios
And websites
Try to distract me.