Summary Of Cameo Appearance By Charles Simic

Often, there is a moment frozen in time that one always remembers, never losing sight or forgetting the true meaning of that very moment. These essential meanings stress the importance of being present in that moment, not emphasizing what happened before or after. Everybody has a specific moment which they will never forget – a moment that will be embedded in their minds for a lifetime. However, it is necessary that one must live in the present and avoid being swallowed up by the past. In “Cameo Appearance,” Charles Simic expresses this ambiguity in which the past and the present collide. While it is important that one cherishes certain moments frozen in time, it is as equally important that one focuses on the present. The poem, as a whole,

Simic begins the poem with the lines, “I had a small, non-speaking part / in a bloody epic” (1-2). These lines offer the image of a cinema or film, which ultimately leads to the theme of the poem. In “Cameo Appearance,” Simic illustrates his own life as a scene from a Hollywood film. He explores the depth of his own life in order to fully understand and bring full circle to this moment fortified in his mind. “I knew I was there” (19) – Simic emphasizes a single, vital moment in time, which is rooted in the author’s mind forever. The problem, however, is that Simic’s children cannot see this moment. This moment possessed so much importance to the father, yet it had absolute no meaning to his children. While Simic is trying to show his children an image of himself in a movie, they are blinded to what he wants them to see. Simic writes, “But, of course, they didn’t film that” (24), to express that during this moment, he was part of something bigger, something inexplicable. This moment was so special to him that he wanted to share it with his children. But, the truth is that the impact of this moment is also frozen in time. The affect was neither present before, nor after the moment – only