ONSTAGE

it strains all credulity you said

in the middle of the day

that you find unbelievable

whatever's in your way

why shouldnt it be believed.

I walked away.

I thought about many things that day.

how much there seems in this world

an endless correction of our thoughts and feelings

as though we had somehow fallen afoul 

of ever possibly saying something right out loud

to please whoever is halfway listening

ready to pounce on even an ounce 

of observation.

oh surely on no stage at all

would anyone consent to play

this part

of a battered heart.

isn't that always the prologue to the dissonant music

or closing the matinee down

mary angela douglas 12 november 2022;11 february 2023