Curtains

The curtains rumble

I feel the mumblings

Rising in my chest

Like a xenomorph on the verge

Of bursting,

Bursting fireworks inside my skull are soon to begin,

I hear their wicks alight

And I am Wile E Coyote

Spotlights like a magnifying glass above a sidewalk,

Breaths inside my skull are amplified

I thought I died

A bit inside

Like the worker ant, though they can’t see

Just follow the line

Marching forward

step

step

step

“Oh, you’ll be fine, no need to whine,

Enjoy your time in the limelight-”

My lips are tight, opening night

You get this right-

My soul alight,

The breaths inside my head have grown

Quite quiet, nearly not my own

If I’d’ve known, if I’d’ve known

I would’ve let my body loan

Itself out long ago to a script

Become another man for an hour

And a half

Got a laugh.

The applause vibrates my brain into

A whole again,

A different whole,

A better one.