Kerry's Wednesday Challenge ~ Breaking the Fourth Wall

The "fourth wall" refers to the imaginary barrier which exists between the "open box" of a theatrical stage and the people gathered below in the seats. "Breaking the fourth wall" is a literary trope in which a character, in a play, cartoon strip, movie or novel, acknowledges their fictionality by directly addressing the reader, making eye contact with the audience or acknowledging their role as a presentation of reality.

Penguin Classics book cover

In Chapter 38 of Jane Eyre, the narrator speaks to the one who is holding the book: "Reader, I married him."  The reader feels the barrier between fiction and reality crumble a little, as Jane confides these words.
Of course, this device is an ancient means of engaging the audience in enacted drama and dates back to Greek theatre. Shakespeare employs the same method in many of his characters' soliloquies: one thinks of Iago discussing his plans to destroy Othello with the audience, who is "in" on the whole wicked scheme.

Tina Fey in 30 Rock

In modern television, it is often used for comic effect.  The direct eye contact of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs made the viewer feel that his evil extended beyond the screen.

Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs

For this challenge, I pose the question: Can the fourth wall be broken in poetry for rhetorical or dramatic effect?  The Poetry Foundation has an interesting podcast in which the poet, Nick Flynn, discusses his confrontational approach in his performance poetry and the ways in which he breaks the fourth wall. Click HERE if you would like to listen to it. Leonard Cohen often makes direct reference to his readers in his poetry, as can been seen in this example: Other Writers. I am confident that those who accept this challenge will come up with many inventive ways to break through the barrier between their poem and their reader.