Poetry Friday: Poetry Theatre
It's a Theatrey weekend for me. Tonight I'm going to see The Little Prince, and then tomorrow it's Damn Yankees. I thought in honor of the festivities I'd post some theatre-related poetry. I googled "theatre poetry," and it gave me Poetry Theatre:
Our mission is to continue the oral tradition utilizing modern technology. Poetry Theatre presents actors performing their favorite poems, a glossary of terms and a biography of the poet. Its website gives poetry to everyone to inspire, to enjoy and to learn.
I don't have time to explore the site now, but it's exciting, isn't it? And Tandy Cronyn is the artistic director. I had the privilege of seeing her star in Wit. She was phenomenal. (And brought Hume Cronyn around the theatre; the boyf got to meet him but had no sense of the magnitude of the event.)
From their selections, I chose one by one of my favorite poets, John Donne. (I'm actually in the process of writing a John Donne cento as a gift for aforementioned boyfriend.)
GO and catch a falling star
by John Donne
GO and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil's foot,
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,
Or to keep off envy's stinging,
And find
What wind
Serves to advance an honest mind.
If thou be'st born to strange sights,
Things invisible to see,
Ride ten thousand days and nights,
Till age snow white hairs on thee,
Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me,
All strange wonders that befell thee,
And swear,
No where
Lives a woman true and fair.
If thou find'st one, let me know,
Such a pilgrimage were sweet;
Yet do not, I would not go,
Though at next door we might meet,
Though she were true, when you met her,
And last, till you write your letter,
Yet she
Will be
False, ere I come, to two, or three.