Posted in Poems

False Prophets

By: Bryan Ricardo Marini Quintana

(Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1783)

In a wardrobe, Mrs. Siddons masks her identity

She wears outlandish attires

To change into characters and escape her reality

She parades ludicrous prosthetics

To face the mirror and rejoice in her fantasy

In a vain struggle to find meaning

Mrs. Siddons beholds her reflection

Trying to fill the void by impersonating

Mrs. Siddons contends with her creation

When she’s stripped of a fruitful vocabulary

Mrs. Siddons doesn’t reason her existence

When she’s discarded from a picturesque scenery

Mrs. Siddons doesn’t know her performance

When she’s heaved from a crystalline lens

Mrs. Siddons doesn’t fathom her expressions

Offstage, she subsists the routines of a colorless reality

Yearning to don her masquerading veneer

Onstage, she performs the adventures of a colorful character

Returning to dwell in her delusional fantasy

In a game of pretending through limitless costumes

She feigns to wield skill

In a game of entertaining with devious illusions

She weaves an appealing spell

In a game of transforming into sagacious characters

She becomes a pretty doll

Consuming the potion

The performer arrogantly believes she’s

Swallowing the incantation

The masses absurdly believe she’s

Creative as a writer and composer

Erudite as a mythologist and anthropologist

Imaginative as a painter and sculptor

Articulate as a philologist and linguist

Wise as a historiographer and philosopher

When she’s dressed, Mrs. Siddons pretends to be

Fearing to lose her disguises

When she’s unveiled, Mrs. Siddons desires to be

Acting to mimic her characters

Without her attire, Mrs. Siddons reveals she’s unconscious

Donning a persona to live a fantasy

With her attire, Mrs. Siddons feigns she’s conscious 

Donning a persona to have an identity

Living within a predictable theater

Mrs. Siddons’ world revolves around her

Stepping into an unpredictable unknown

Mrs. Siddons’ world is overthrown

Realizing that without characters, she’s bereft of identity

Mrs. Siddons returns to her fantasy

In a crowd, Mrs. Siddons appears charmingly

To feign her performance of being skilled

In a crowd, Mrs. Siddons speaks eloquently

To sermon her autocratic vision of the world

Onstage, the masses erect a pedestal for Mrs. Siddons

Praising her persona as a beautiful deity

Offstage, the performer hides in marvelous dresses

Dragging the world into her delusional fantasy

In a theater, the masses worship Mrs. Siddons

Falling into perdition to venerate a Golden Calf devoid of identity

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Author:

I’m Bryan Ricardo Marini Quintana, an author enamored with mythological texts, working in Comparative Literature Studies through the scholarly publication “Prophecies of Doom: J.R.R. Tolkien as a Translator of Old Myths into Modern Fantasy.” My background is in Humanities, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing, where I studied the Classical World, Western Art and Culture, Medieval Literature and History, alongside English and Spanish Poetry. Thereafter, I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Medieval Icelandic Studies, where I learned Old Icelandic, Old Norse Literature, Viking Age History, and the Archeology of the Middle Ages. My primary experience is as an English Teacher, teaching Grammar, Poetry, and Literature. The Western Voyager is my personal website, offering an educational and artistic platform accessible to everyone who seeks to consult wisdom or wishes to be swept away in an adventure. Here, I publish Poems, Short Stories, Film or Literature Analyses, Book Reviews, and Research Articles. I’m currently completing a Doctoral Thesis in Texts of Classical Antiquity, studying the influence of Virgilian Literature on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Follow on Instagram: @thewesternvoyager Contact via Gmail: thewesternvoyager@gmail.com Subscribe to the Website: TheWesternVoyager

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