Interval
In those fifteen minutes
I thought I saw it all:
Each cog whirring its way around
Plot lines and set design
Until it reached an earnest nod
And all were in agreement.
On the left, a mind drifting
Out of the auditorium and back
Through the day’s gaps and mishaps
Before a pause, then a glance forward
From the lull of the here and now, which -
She thinks - only preface the night somehow.
And over by the bar,
On his second glass and
Rehashing extracts from the first act,
Immersed in what he has seen, heard,
Can feel taking form as, towards the next half,
He directs hypotheses and prophecies.
Even the few who nosed through
Actors’ names and dates of birth
Remained part of it still.
The youngest so engrossed
That their disbelief, suspended,
Insisted it was real.
In those fifteen minutes
I thought I saw it all:
When each came up for air and
Hung in the balance between
The before and after;
The point at which the play stalled,
Took stock, then drove on forward
To the end, and a curtain call.
In those fifteen minutes
I thought I saw it all:
Each cog whirring its way around
Plot lines and set design
Until it reached an earnest nod
And all were in agreement.
On the left, a mind drifting
Out of the auditorium and back
Through the day’s gaps and mishaps
Before a pause, then a glance forward
From the lull of the here and now, which -
She thinks - only preface the night somehow.
And over by the bar,
On his second glass and
Rehashing extracts from the first act,
Immersed in what he has seen, heard,
Can feel taking form as, towards the next half,
He directs hypotheses and prophecies.
Even the few who nosed through
Actors’ names and dates of birth
Remained part of it still.
The youngest so engrossed
That their disbelief, suspended,
Insisted it was real.
In those fifteen minutes
I thought I saw it all:
When each came up for air and
Hung in the balance between
The before and after;
The point at which the play stalled,
Took stock, then drove on forward
To the end, and a curtain call.
