Actor

Actor
Poem and Photo by Dirk Michener
When I was a baby
I got the acting bug
And made a living doing those commercials
Where they CG an adults mouth
Over the baby’s mouth to make it look
Like the baby is talking
But really the baby doesn’t know what’s going on.
Then later I got polio
I don’t know how I got polio
But nobody noticed till I was 18
My parents said get a job
Even though I was rich already
I got a job taking care of plants
During the summer in Texas
I talked to all the other plant-tenders
Telling them stories about my
Speedboat collection and various
Lake houses in southern Illinois
I smoked cigarettes alone in a
Portable shed in the parking lot
There were 7 different sizes
Of portable sheds
I was in the small to medium shed
There were no windows in there
I put a cinderblock in there to
Sit on while I smoked cigarettes
My parents said if I didn’t quit smoking
My polio would get bad
So I moved into uncle Todd’s house
In Coppell
I hated uncle Todd’s dogs
He had 3 mastiffs
2 great danes
1 jack Russell terrier
1 of those hound dogs like on dukes of hazard
And like 7 wiener dogs
Those were the worst wiener dogs
Keeping me up at night
Licking my feet and snorting
They don’t know what it’s like
To have polio
They don’t know what an actor
Has to put up with.