Poem of the Week: “Oscar” by Ciaran Carson

Ever wish you could experience winning an Oscar? In light of last weekend’s Academy Awards, today we present you that opportunity, courtesy of one of our most popular poets, Ciaran Carson.

Oscar

I held the figurine aloft, revelling in my actor’s
gravestone smile;
I boldly faced an orchestra of flash, as paparazzi
packed the aisle.

I thanked everyone: all those who’d made it possible
for me to be,
Down to the midwife and my grade-school teacher; my
analyst; the Committee;

Not forgetting William Shakespeare, who had writ the
script on vellum,
Nor the born anachronist director, who had set it in
the ante bellum—

The way he saw it, Hamlet was a kind of Southern dude
who chewed cheroots.
He wanted Vivien to play Ophelia Leigh.  The uncle
was a putz.

So, everybody, give a big hand to All Our Yesterdays,
this apron weft
And warp of life we strut upon a brief while, till All
    exeunt, stage left.

–Ciaran Carson, from Opera Et Cetera (1996)