Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was an American realist painter. Many of his paintings feature subdued urban scenes containing one or two figures in a contemplative pose. A Hopper painting often conveys a sense that the image is merely one scene within a larger a story that’s unfolding, or about to unfold.

Given the narrative quality of Hopper’s work, I decided to write a poem in response to his 1957 painting, Western Motel. Western Motel depicts a woman sitting in an unadorned motel room in the western United States. The room has one large window with full-length curtains hanging at each side. Curiously, the window has no frame which causes it to look as much like a stage as a window. You can view the painting here.

All the World’s a Stage

so, there I was

driving familiar roads

heading to the same office
where I planned to greet familiar faces
and do the usual things

when the green Buick
quietly turned left
and left again

I packed a few clothes and tossed my bag
onto the back seat

heading west, the city
began to thin out, like second-week
audiences at a mediocre play

no one was watching
as I followed the painted line, on and on
between endless cornfields

until night fell, when I pulled
into a small motel where I ate alone under a pale light
before falling into a long, sound sleep

out of habit, I washed and dressed
then drew back the curtains to reveal morning sunshine
sliding softly over a string of low hills

it’s often said that all the world’s a stage
now here’s a world where I could come of age

apprehensive, yet filled with anticipation

freed from living
the same scenes day after day
week after week

no longer stifled
by a script as stale as the remnants of last night’s
popcorn languishing beneath the back stalls

I’m ready for new characters
with new dialogue
ready for stories that surprise

ready to step onto the stage
and improvise

The expression ‘all the world’s a stage’ is a reference to the play As You Like It which was written by William Shakespeare c. 1599. The play includes one of Shakespeare’s most famous monologues which begins:

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts

My poem, All the World’s a Stage, appears in Volume 11.2 of the online literary journal, Meniscus, which is published by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs. You can read Volume 11.2 here.