Examined
Like a bug under a microscope or
A magnifying glass
Taken apart
Analyzed
Piece by piece
Everyone watching
Waiting for me to make a mistake.
I am frozen in chemical solution
Singed by the focused beam of light
Exhibit A for the benefit of the public.

Not so, nutso
Wouldn’t it be funny
If Hamlet called his stepdad a nutso?
“Official speak, official speak, Official recognition of my heir”
Nutso!
Maybe if Hamlet could call Claudius a nutso at the top of the show
Everyone wouldn’t end up dead by the end of it.
In teaching yesterday, a 7th grader
Started to tell me the story of Hamlet
When asked about Macbeth.
Her teacher corrected her and she waved her hand dismissively and said
“Same thing.”
Indeed. Indeed not.
It would take a lot to turn Hamlet into Macbeth –
In fact, I think it’s impossible –
Despite the similar body count at the end –
The intentions are so stupendously different
As well as their methodologies.
Hamlet breaks his heart by holding his tongue
Macbeth falls to cursing
Undone, the both of them.
But I’d rather hang out with Hamlet.

Hamlet’s first words in the play.
His verse is regular.
Each beat in time.
But he’s interrupted the king
And the editors of this Penguin edition of the play
Have put an exclamation point at the end.
He is metrically in line but well out of line.
Is he himself more than kin to Claudius
Or is Claudius more than kin to him?
Who is less than kind?
Neither could be considered terribly kind to the other
Less than kind
More than kin
It is the kind of kin that many of us struggle with.