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Firstly, seeing this extremely short poem, I am baffled. Immediately, I like it. I like how short it is and I like the way it is laid out. I like how hard it is to understand. I wonder if the author wants us to understand it the way she does or if she wants us to interpret it in our own way. I like how each stanza of two lines are in twos because it makes me think that she wanted the two lines to represent the two people. It seems like a love poem. It may be trying to explain their relationship and how they work together. They may have a simple relationship that just fits perfectly. The lines are perfect, the amount of lines in each stanza. It all seems even, which makes me feel that their relationship is even. I like the title and the way the brackets are around it. It is very interesting and different and makes me want to read it. I also notice how there are no periods which is interesting. Does this symbolize that maybe there is more to the story than what we are seeing? Is their relationship more complex than the poem is presenting it?

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I don’t know why, but when reading this, the first thing I thought about was this in relation to our government and society. In the first line, “the play” could be how our society is and the “almost infinite run” could be how about how the faults in our government system seem like they are never going to end or go away. In the second line, “don’t mind a little thing like the actors fighting,” could mean don’t engage with the people who have been spoon-fed/controlled by the government, like actors are totally controlled by the script and directors. In the third and fourth lines, “the sun” could be referring to the people in the government who hold a lot of power. In the fourth line, “we’ll be all right if nothing goes wrong with the lighting,” I thought the lighting mean the government in general – as long as everything can get settled (or maybe just one thing at a time), things will get better for people. I kind of doubt this is really what these lines are about, but that’s the first thing my brain connected it with. I think it could easily also be interpreted as actually being about plays and problems within the play field, or about mental illness.

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When I read this, I think of war. The first line, "This play seems out for almost an infinite run," reminds me of a soldier slowly growing tired of war. He is starting to believe that the war he is partaking in will never end and he will never go home. The soldier has become numb to the tragedy around him, when those close to him begin to fight or his fellow "actors" leave the trenches to adhere to their mission, he pays no attention to it. The warfare is normal to him, the constant conflict is all he knows. His concerns lie within the lighting, the daylight. He knows as long is the sun is up, he has his vision, the one thing he can still trust. The soldier is familiar with his surroundings and relies on his visual knowledge of the terrain for his safety. He and his fellow soldiers will be kept safe as long as the weather holds up and the fighting stops after sundown. Each day, he goes trough the same routine, providing the illusion of an everlasting play. The other actors quarrel's do not register in his mind, they are null and void. Our solider finds safety in the sunlight, all he has left to trust is himself, his eyes have never let him down. As long as he can see, he can feel secure. Naturally, knowing this he has concerns in the back of his head about the lighting. He can not control the lighting, he can only rely on it. Our soldier is a tireless actor in a play of never ending war.

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Right off the bat, I noticed how short the text was, therefore making me ask myself if I was missing part of the text and if maybe my computer was not showing the entire thing. After I realized this was in fact the entire text, my thoughts went to how short the lines themselves are and how choppy they sound. The speaker already seems as if they are distracted or worried about something and the choppy, short lines seem to reflect this almost as if the speaker cannot elaborate on their thoughts due to how distracted they are. In the first line (my favorite line of the poem), it seems as if the "play" has been rehearsed for a long time but after reading and rereading this line, it now seems like the play itself is never-ending or like the speaker does not want it to end. The "infinite run" could signify the speaker's attachment to the play and how they never want it to end. This idea seems to be apparent throughout the entire poem as the speaker chooses to worry about larger elements that make the play run smoothly (for example, the "lighting"). In the second line, the speaker states to not worry about "the actors fighting." This line made me think that the speaker is worried about bigger things and knows that, when the time comes, the actors will get over their arguments and put on a good show. The third and last lines seem to go hand-in-hand as the speaker refers to both the "sun" and the "lighting" for the play being a big worry. In all honesty, I have never been a part of a play or show performance before so I cannot attest to how important lighting may or may not be, though in my opinion it does not seem too important. I would think as long as the actors know their lines and are not distracted by possible lighting issues, it would not be too important. However, the speaker seems to be worried mostly about the lighting so it must be more important than I am giving it credit for. My final thoughts, after reading the poem a multitude of times, are that I wish it was longer. I wish we got to see more of the speaker and the play in order to give us a better understanding of what it represents.

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By Nicole Abuhamada (for some reason my username is showing up with my maiden name) I don't see how to create a new post on here, so I am just going to have to reply as a comment, apologies. This short poem brought me back to my acting days. Shifts in lightning were always a major concern when filming outside on location. That seems very to the point. It seems like the play is a success, if it is out for an infinite run, which I take to mean that the performance is continually drawing crowds. Actors fighting is typically par for the course as well on sets. I think that the speaker here is either the play's director or a producer, it could really be either one. I think I am picking up some humor in "the only thing I worry about is the sun" as that is a very large thing to worry about, "only the sun." When I think about this short poem more, I am actually a little surprised lighting is a concern for a play, which would typically be lit inside by artificial lighting, as opposed to a film being captured in an outdoor location. Instead what I think is happening is that the sun becomes a figure of speech that reflects the enormity of the speaker's worry, although their actual sun is likely artificial.

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Carly Feldman
It seems like the author of this excerpt, which I'm assuming is a part of a poem is going over the issues of the play, and while there are many, trying to pretend like everything is fine or alright. Often times plays are meant to represent a person's life, so the infinite run could be them explaining that this is a play that never ends, thus life. As for the actors fighting that could be the people in their life aren’t getting along or maybe they’ve stopped talking and are cutting ties, but the tension is still there. As for the sun aspect, and I’m likely incorrect with my assumption I believe it may have to do with death. There’s a popular saying with light at the end of the tunnel, so my assumption is that everything is going wring in their life right now, but they think it will get better in the end with either death or some form of release. So as long as nothing else goes wrong with the lighting (the light at the end of the tunnel) then their life will have been worth it However, I’m not entirely sure and this could all be considered a reach.

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The aspect of the text that stood out to me the most was some of the language: "infinite" and "nothing," two very contrasting ideas. These words are loaded with meaning and seem to contrast the simplicity of the other terms in the piece. "Infinite" can be taken positively or negatively, but it is something endless and enduring either way. So, I wonder immediately if this seemingly endless "play" is a pleasant occurrence or torture to the speaker, and I really can't tell.
Another word choice that struck me is the "sun" because of its representation of energy, creation, and the passage of life. It's odd that the speaker "worries" about such a symbol of life and warmth. But I think that it is not the literal sun about which the speaker worries, and that vagueness actually stands out in the poem.
For instance, the poem alternates lines of weighty seriousness and ambiguity with more casual, offhand observations that straightforwardly express what is happening. These more observant, grounded lines give more insight to the actual matter at hand that the poem tries to chronicle. On the contrary, every other line is somewhat vague and causes me to question my understanding of the poem's context.
And because of that, I almost don't want to provide any interpretation of this brief poem at all! But I envision that the speaker is a man or woman who is invested in the outcome of a play production and, as the curtain opens, frets about every possible mishap-- the actors quarrelling or the lights going out, as mentioned-- while watching the show unfold. Either way, I can understand that there is tension and unrest behind this short piece.

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Reader-Response Criticism by Harrison Rebstock

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Reader-Response Criticism by Harrison Rebstock

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Reading this poem felt like an excerpt from a longer poem, however, I decided to keep reading it over and over again until what I thought of about it begun to click.
The first thing I noticed when reading this poem is rhyme. I appreciate the little things such as a good rhyme. It follows a simple A,B,A,B rhyme scheme as well as has perfect rhymes meaning that the end words have the same assonance and syllables.

Secondly, these lines give me some sort of hidden meaning to them or like a form of code. For example, “an almost infinite run”, of course, means that the play feels like it’s taking forever and if that the case is it only because the actors are fighting or could something else be at play here? Another example would be the “sun”, however, in this case the sun is the lighting that the speaker is worried about.
Finally, I realized that whilst this feels like an excerpt out of a poem, it in itself has the potential to become a poem. After all, I have recently read a random assortment of poems and one if not two of them were incredibly short, being compromised of four lines, but fewer words. It’s truly amazing what can be considered poetry.

The link here is one of the poems I read which gives me the same feelings this one does!

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Regarded as one of Canada's finest living writers, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist. Her books have received critical acclaim in the United States, Europe, and her native Canada, and she has received numerous literary awards, including the Booker...

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[you fit into me] by Margaret Atwood | Poetry Foundation

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Regarded as one of Canada's finest living writers, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist. Her books have received critical acclaim in the United States, Europe, and her native Canada, and she has received numerous literary awards, including the Booker...

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Rachel Canzoneri - Reader Response Criticism

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Rachel Canzoneri - Reader Response Criticism

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My immediate reaction to reading these lines was that it was about theatre or film. Then I read it a second time and thought maybe it was about plays and theatre losing their importance and popularity to the film industry. I’m not really sure why I think that, but to me the first line “The play seems out for an almost infinite run.” means that the art of the play is “out”, meaning that something else has come in – and film would be my only guess for what that replacement could be. This could also explain the second and fourth lines, which talk about actors and lighting which are basic parts of any type of show business. But some parts of these lines also remind me of sports. The first line uses the words “play”, “out”, and “run” which can all be considered a part of sports language – especially baseball where the pitcher can strike someone out and the players run bases. And maybe in some unclear way the speaker thinks of the players as actors, like if they suspect that sports and their outcomes are rigged. The last two lines about the sun and lighting could also kind of be considered a part of sports. Again, I think baseball is a good example, because if someone is in the outfield the sun could hinder their ability to see and catch the ball, and the lighting could refer to the many lights that light up stadiums. Clearly, I took away many different ideas from these lines, but I think that’s okay because writing of any kind is normally a little ambiguous!

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The play seems out for an almost infinite run.
Don't mind a little thing like the actors fighting.
The only thing I worry about is the sun.
We'll be all right if nothing goes wrong with the lighting.