Re: Rehearsal

I've rehearsed all my life
   for this one woman show
I try to stand tall
Try to walk in deeper growth
Try not to say "I" all the damned time

I keep trying to tell you
     it's not hunger, but starvation
You say, "you're only in your first draft"
"You must perfect your pain"
I think you are cruel
You say, "you are not thinking!"

I can't stand the consternation
I'm sick to death of these sea legs
Of memories recreating themselves
In their deafmute alienation chambers

I collapse into dead pan
In the cynical, skeptical, spoiled rotten
    unconsciousness of first world oblivion
The unmitigated gall--the dumb luck
To ponder "I"
Thank God, Thank God, Thank God