for Mick
	
the great secret… for moving the passions is to be moved ourselves
Quintilian, first century CE
	
the stage was set everything in its place
actors and patrons ready for curtain to rise
could have been 1984, a time when some notable
predictions were made, didn’t really matter

tragedy more than likely, what else could it be,
not quite the same, if that was the case, bloodied gun knife
ready, all in its proper place, all needed
to shake up the place, doing it right this time for all time

making sure of all that needed doing would be done
in this place, this was the actor’s chance of a lifetime
to get it right, to prove themselves, in such cases one only gets
one chance, stage set everything in place

could have been anytime, but it wasn’t
it was this time now, well into the future
when actors take their jobs seriously, laying down
their lives if that’s what the scene required
 
living up to, and dying down to what Stanislavsky
might have envisioned bring the knife, bring the gun,
bring the rope, actors, and patrons, we’ve all got the nerve

it’s the future
it’s a time when actors

	a time when drama
	a time when players and plays

	no longer
	play.