False Prophets
By: Bryan Ricardo Marini Quintana
In a wardrobe, Mrs. Siddons masks her identity She wears outlandish attires
To change into characters and escape her reality She parades ludicrous prosthetics
To face the mirror and rejoice in her fantasy
In a vain struggle to find meaning
Mrs. Siddons beholds her reflection
Trying to fill the void by impersonating
Mrs. Siddons contends with her creation
When she’s stripped from a fruitful vocabulary Mrs. Siddons doesn’t reason her existence
When she’s discarded from a picturesque scenery Mrs. Siddons doesn’t know her performance
When she’s heaved from a crystalline lens
Mrs. Siddons doesn’t fathom her expressions
Offstage, she subsists the routines of a colorless reality Yearning to don her masquerading veneer
Onstage, she performs the adventures of a colorful character Returning to dwell in her delusional fantasy
In a game of pretending through limitless costumes She feigns to wield skill
In a game of entertaining with devious illusions She weaves an appealing spell
In a game of transforming into sagacious characters She becomes a pretty doll
Consuming the potion
The performer arrogantly believes she’s
Swallowing the incantation
The masses absurdly believe she’s
Creative as a writer and composer
Erudite as a mythologist and anthropologist
Imaginative as a painter and sculptor
Articulate as a philologist and linguist
Wise as a historiographer and philosopher
When she’s dressed, Mrs. Siddons pretends to be Fearing to lose her disguises
When she’s unveiled, Mrs. Siddons desires to be Acting to mimic her characters
Without her attire, Mrs. Siddons reveals she’s unconscious Donning a persona to live a fantasy
With her attire, Mrs. Siddons feigns she’s conscious Donning a persona to have an identity
Living within a predictable theater
Mrs. Siddons’ world revolves around her
Stepping into an unpredictable unknown
Mrs. Siddons’ world is overthrown
Realizing that without characters she’s bereft of identity Mrs. Siddons returns to her fantasy
In a crowd, Mrs. Siddons appears charmingly
To feign her performance of being skilled
In a crowd, Mrs. Siddons speaks eloquently
To sermon her autocratic vision of the world
Onstage, the masses erect a pedestal for Mrs. Siddons Praising her persona as a beautiful deity
Offstage, the performer hides in marvelous dresses Dragging the world into her delusional fantasy
In a theater, the masses worship Mrs. Siddons
Falling into perdition to venerate a Golden Calf devoid of identity
(Joshua Reynolds, Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 1783)