Kenneth Pobo

Myself Starring in Bergman’s Cries and Whispers

He didn’t cast me but I appeared

anyway.  I play a secret sister

named Agnetha.  Barely photographed,

I get none of Nykvist’s loving closeups.

I slide in the background, polish silverware,

dust clocks, hum.  Ingmar can’t

understand why I keep interfering

with his shots.  Get him out of here,

he says, but no one sees me—bulbous

Swedish dresses disguise me and

my beard looks like a veil.  Credits

don’t list me, but the Academy notes

my performance.  I’m nominated

in Best Invisible Actor Or Actress

in a Foreign Film.  Ingmar returns to Faro,

Liv returns to America to choose

her next project, and I return

to the Acme, drop six grapefruits

in my basket, then speed home

to read fan mail that never comes.

Kenneth Pobo © 2009