I am here because it is the only
Place that will save me.
The only place that will
Keep my dry.
I am in this body because
I am the only one
Who will keep it going
Like a gentleman’s pocket watch
I wind and wind.
But the edges of these pictures
Are fading to brown
As though the mind’s fire
Sent out sparks as far as the city.

The bell has just rung. You are new here,
Aren’t you. Expect to see
Flashy dancers with melted mascara,
A slumped-over woman past her prime
Sitting at the corner table with an unlit cigarette
Dangling from her mouth.
But there is youth!
Behind the curtain are little girls
Dressed in angel costumes, the hem a bit too long
As they shuffle into line.
Their cheeks are fresh, pink pomegranates, their tongues
Fat and fleshy as they stick them out the corner of their mouths
adjusting the wings.
They are ready to go on, but they forever wait.
They spend their little lives waiting to go on.
I hold the curtain strings.
I say when, I say
Cut.

04/04/2006

Posted on 04/04/2006
Copyright © 2024 Lisa Marie Brodsky