IVAN ZHDANOV'S PROGRAM

You cannot make it up
the make up
the masks and mascara
for the stage and screen
has its own
Maureen O'Hara,
pass out the program
the steamy curtain is set
for drama and the camera
the theater is certain
to make its comedy laugh
or stand in the gaffs,
an actor will create dreams
for would-be Hamlets
as their age pretends
to separate wheat and chaff
as every three acts ends
in their own epitaph.