photo: ralph murre
One
Story
by
Cristina M. R. Norcross
There are nearly thirteen
million people in the world. (sic)
None of those people is an extra.
They’re all the leads of
their own stories.
~Charlie
Kaufman, from his film, Synecdoche, New York
Playing
the lead in a haystack,
existing
side-by-side in our solitary lives,
solace
comes when we join these needles together –
the
thread of life.
Jumping
into character,
taking
leave of the present world –
who
wears your clothes when you sleep?
I
am just a forgotten pebble –
a
spark of granite daring to glint.
You
see me walking down the street –
out
of focus arms and legs –
a
disappearing narrative.
The
screens keep getting wider –
a
stage full of leading ladies and leading men.
They
all spin in circles –
red
curtains flying.
The
cleaner, unheard,
leaves
all untouched except the dust.
The
man attached to his phone,
alone
on the airport walkway,
has
a family waiting.
The
actress learns her lines on a threadbare couch,
sitting
on hope.
We
are all One Story.
~
first published on Your Daily Poem
