The Actress

I am The Actress. I live a million lives.

Each of them surfacing when I want to hide inside

the layers of who I always wish I were.

More exciting, more entertaining, more lovable, happier.

Yes, I am The Actress; I love my roles because

they provide me empathy, morals, and joy where emptiness was.

But one thing Actors don’t tell you is when you remove the mask,

when you live as you, when you’re honest when asked:

“Why are you The Actor” the answer will always be:

I am the actor because I don’t want to live life as me.

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A note about the piece:

This poem sprang into existence while I was doing a simple exercise for fun in which I take 30 seconds or so to write out my stream of consciousness, everything said in my head during that time with no filter and no pauses. I was suprised when I read back over it to see how dark it had turned when I wasn't consciously attempting to add a certain moral or theme. (I was also surprised that many of the sentences had become rhythmic and rhymed, so I went ahead and formatted them by line rather than sentence.) While this poem doesn't sum up my entire mindset, the exercise is helpful in surfacing thoughts or emotoions the writer previously wasn't aware of. I'd recommend trying it to anyone for this reason.

Thanks for reading and check out my page for more formatted, less experimental pieces of mine! :)