KAREN SUNDE

It is the pain we pass
as we live
that opens our veins
for deep humanity

It can render us wise
and humble enough
to finally meet
the God within us

(written years ago, KS)

“Our audience doesn’t know you.
Write something for them.”
Audience, I think. Who are they?
The ones I live for.

When I’m an actor
the answer is simpler.
It’s the audience I feel out there
on the other side of the curtain
while I’m waiting in the wings
breathing myself into character
whichever character I’m going to be
for the audience.

They’re out there
rustling into their places
living the lives they’re living
until I’m in my place
coming alive with someone
they’ll be stopping the lives they’re living
to watch, to be with
to want and grow and laugh and cry with
to live and maybe even die with
for a moment. (more…)

I wanted a life in art; acting led to writing, and I learned that art can only be born in the air between. As actor I must ignite, by my life onstage, a current for the audience's imagination to be lit by the (more…)