"My Offstage War"

I sit backstage at BergenPAC.

My headset on, the power in my hand,

at my stage management booth, dressed all in black.

I tell the actors to enter, walk, and stand

on center stage.

The show is running smoothly- I hear laughter

in the audience. I warn the crew it's almost curtain,

but I hear static in my ear "it's caught up on a rafter.

The curtain's stuck." My heart will stop, I am certain,

before the next page.

I can not leave my chair, so I whisper-yell

into my headset, "SOMEONE FIX THIS

BEFORE THE SONG ENDS. I tell

 the spotlight guy to GO,  he moves his

lever to engage.

Look up, there is a man scaling the wall,

hiding in the darkness with a  pole.

He reaches out, barely holding on at all

and knocks the curtain back; the whole

crew is relieved backstage.

The red curtain falls at the end of the act

I take a breather half way through the show.

Something backstage always goes wrong -- and that's a a fact--

but I hope that the audience will never know

the offstage war I wage.

For now I'm at peace.