*First line is taken from the last line of James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968)

 

And so found myself

presently, 

standing in the wings again, 

waiting for my cue.

Rocking on my heels

in anticipation,

I reach to run my lines

and find a blank expanse where 

pages and pages of narrative

once sprawled across my memory

flanked by scene descriptions 

And parentheticals

in 12pt Times.

I am making it up

as I go. 

 

However,

I can recall you.

All of you–

 

Unscripted

reveling in divine ferocity

tongues stropped and gleaming

in an extravaganza of impeccable style

flaunting the kind of walk

that could eviscerate me

And burn Paris to the ground–

 

as my inciting incident.