POEM - Bit Player

Sometimes I am Hamlet

Mostly I am Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

I’ve noticed this fact

Revealed by a more connected world

Where I can peek at the recollections

Of people from my life

Discussing historic events

That I know I was present for

But I failed to be involved

Where I read the list of characters

And I’m not at the beginning

Or even in the top half

And I even have to share my credit line

With another name

Sometimes I even languished

In formless anonymity

With many nameless names

A member of The Chorus

Or wallowing in abject indiscernibility

As a Various Townsperson

As richer and fuller details

Emerge and surface

I wonder which play I was in

My Guildenstern seems very thoughtful

My Rosencrantz easily distracted

Was I servant to the main character

Or was I experiencing my own reality

With my back to the audience

A life lived in asides

And countless demolitions

Of an implied fourth wall

Then the question forms

Who were the Hamlets

That I lurked behind?

I know of another world

Where I have a starring role

Where I get to be the main character

But I am nervous there

I wonder what is happening

Just out of my sight

Flashing in my peripherals

Who are the minor characters

Going through motions

In the shadows I cast

But I know I am not in Shakespeare

The tragedies aren’t as severe

No, this is definitely the Stoppard play

And the minors are the majors

And the majors are just a play

And I may be dead

            Or lost in a shared dream

Perhaps just in limbo

And I may flip a coin

And flip it once more

And every time it will be heads