Poems and Prose #30: Stagecraft

The curtain slowly recedes;
the actor stands alone and breathes.

Now he spreads his hates and glees,
his boyish charms, his worn atrophies.


The spotlights cut the dusty breeze,
ensuring his face is the one everyone sees,
while drowning the outlines
   of the hoists and the beams,
the spectators and the backdrop
   and every last thing in between.