At Auckland branch meetings of New Zealand Society of Authors there’s usually a spot called “Literary Moments” – a writing competition on a given topic – the emphasis usually on fun. Here’s my response to “a short piece or poem on the topic Other People’s Lives”. This was my (winning) entry – composed in just a few minutes and just for fun!
Other People’s Lives
Other people’s lives are wonderful
Other people’s lives are great!
I have such fun working out the lives
Of characters I create.
I can make them rich or make them poor
Or make this one play the fool
And that one a tragic heroine
Be benevolent or cruel.
I can lead them up the garden path
Or maroon them out at sea
I can make them die a painful death
‘They’re mine – so it’s up to me.
Whoever they are they stay with me
Once they exist they are real
I live their lives vicariously
Whatever they feel, I feel.
An author’s power is limitless
In our hands we hold the fate
Of the characters that we devise
And the lives that we create.
Other People’s Lives
Other people’s lives are wonderful
Other people’s lives are great!
I have such fun working out the lives
Of characters I create.
I can make them rich or make them poor
Or make this one play the fool
And that one a tragic heroine
Be benevolent or cruel.
I can lead them up the garden path
Or maroon them out at sea
I can make them die a painful death
‘They’re mine – so it’s up to me.
Whoever they are they stay with me
Once they exist they are real
I live their lives vicariously
Whatever they feel, I feel.
An author’s power is limitless
In our hands we hold the fate
Of the characters that we devise
And the lives that we create.
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