An Actors Life Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

An Actor`s life
My life as an artist lasted long although no one saw me acting
only that my behaviour changed if I had read a book and liked
the hero in it, or seen a western movie; became that person.
I could remember pages of lines from a book and the dialogue
in a movie spitting words our, whispering them or roaring like
a wounded gladiator, I had many friends, but they lived in my
head and when at sea lived like a frugal monk who had taken
the vow of silence spending time reading and dreaming.
Walking down the gangplank going ashore I was an FBI agent
on a secret mission and if there was a loud noise I reached
inside my coat-jacket like a had a gun there and looked where
the din came from; people noticed this and moved away from
this odd person at the bar. My favourite act was the as a man
with a writer`s block, walked around with paper and pen, what
I hoped was a soulful look women liked that, but less so when
a boozing loudmouthed cowboy.
These days when reading poetry my wish is to be a good poet
that doesn`t slam doors when leaving; you see I find myself so
tedious I have invented a character interesting and full of life.