Stage Left
Rodney transported instruments
for not enough money.
He scraped together enough
crumpled bills for juice
and tape to keep his boots together.
Bibi Chick place was stage left, never center.
People rarely check beyond the spotlight.
Sisters and brothers know the difference between left, right, center.
Bibi disklikes the shabbiness of neglect.
Rodney notices the bitterness and salt
that is unwritten in her voice but nestles in her eyes
He keeps his cleverness with the tape.
At her last show, Bibi was overwrought with venom
She didn’t see her frequent observer.
Rodney invites her without an invitation.
Lures her to a secret sermon
human to animal in seconds
animal to captive audience
War is not love she sings
revive my soul
on the stage of forestry
and backdrop of midnight stars
with that spell
the hunter becomes the captive
Now she is center stage
for him to hear
until the end
