By: Bryan Ricardo Marini Quintana
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 from 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
The Western Voyager 