by Michael Estabrook

because it’s Shakespeare I have to do it

Saw Denzel Washington in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar on Broadway a few years back. He was, as you would expect, excellent. When he was asked why he bothered doing a play for $1000 a week when he got $20 million for a motion picture, he said, with a look of incredulity –

because I like her that way

Some of my so-called would-be competitors accuse me of being so obsessed with painting The Last Supper of our Lord Jesus in the refectory of the Santa Maria Convent in Milan that I will never finish it. But it’s a Leonardo da Vinci painting so of course I’ll finish it in fact I have finished it – Here look I’ve painted John next to The Lord so ladylike have you seen the long flowing auburn hair, soft complexion delicate expression, more like The Magdalen than John – I’ve surprised even myself. No. No! I’ll not change it I’m leaving it as is –

because you have no right to waste a life, not even your own

So what’s wrong with all these shadows in the hallway splinters of light sneaking under the doors? Do you have to watch TV all damn night haven’t you got more important things to do something, anything learn something earn something a university degree perhaps or some money, paint the garage, clean the gutters, repair the shutters, pull some weeds, call your mother, anything –

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Michael Estabrook Michael Estabrook has been publishing his poetry in the small press since the 1980s. He has published over 20 collections, a recent one being The Poet’s Curse, A Miscellany (The Poetry Box, 2019). He lives in Acton, Massachusetts.