They say he spent a night in jail
To write a thief into his play.
They say she learned to sew up wounds
To write a nurse in Mandalay.
But what do “method” writers learn
Of day-to-day-to-day-to-day –
The tedium of everyday –
Their subjects play, replay, replay?
No novelty in novelty.
No certainty of certainty.
Except the boring cruelty
Of same cliché, cliché, cliché.
In fleshing out these characters
We sacrifice the people who,
On seeing highs and lows, respond
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Minakhi Misra 