Poems by Mark Butkus

Opening Night, Off-off Broadway 

Act I 
Lights go down 

Act II 
Lights come up 

Act III 
Lights dim 

Act IV 
Lights go down 

Act V 
[alternate ending] 
Walk up from audience, 
Face audience, 
Ask audience, 
“Any questions?” 

◊ 

Studio on Park Avenue 

You realize how much you have 
When what others want 
Is what you have left behind. 

“Yes, yes, yes! 
We are all independent filmmakers 
But what do you do in the daytime?” 

I don’t know 
how much of that was true 
But I heard it often enough. 

Too many failed this 
Too many struggling that 
Engaging me in conversation 
Between tokes.

◊ 

To Theater or not to Theater...

Its not a question of 
whether I go to the theater or not. 
Its a matter of access.
 
I dont know what I will want to see
Or when I will want to see it
As I cant anticipate 
my moods, my desires 
or even my whims. 

But live theater exists here.
Its vibrant! Its alive!
And like the people of this city 
It comes in all shapes and sizes. 

We could go to the theater district 
and attend one of those big budget shows
under a sponsored marquee
with the flashing lights and neon

We can dress to the nines
Pay for a babysitter
and make a night of it.
Dinner before the show
Drinks after the curtain.

Or we can check out something 
in a coffee shop in Pilsen. 
Where they pass the hat around 
between acts, between performers. 

You see, I need to know 
that live theater is at hand,
at my fingertips, within my grasp. 

Whether I attend often or not
is of little consequence. 
The presence of live theater comforts me.
It speaks to my soul.

Theater speaks to the soul of a community
You depend upon it being there. 
This city provides an endless supply
of live theater adrenaline rushes
for someone needing a fix.

You just dont find that kind of diversity 
upstate or downstate or in the burbs
You only find it here,
in the city.

And that is why 
I can never leave the city. 
I need the constant reassurance 
that options exist. 
That live theater exists. 

What do you want to do tonight?

◊

Mark Butkus. Poet, wrote about the environment for more than 20 years. In Mexico, Mark exercises the left side of his brain. Caught between two worlds he now calls Chicago home…when not in Barra. He is a member of the Bar None Group.

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