Sorry, Folks—Forgot My Cue

Sorry, Folks—Forgot My Cue
October 6, 2007

My life will not be spent taking cues
from masqueraders
who never had the guts
to seek their own spotlights.

I don’t want to waste my life
waiting for an invisible hand to shove me on stage,
expecting me to know the lines
of a part I never wanted to play.

I don’t want to tap my foot
behind a line of fools
waiting for someone to give them the O.K.
to live.

I refuse to let my life be used
as redemption
for a cruel, selfish puppeteer
who really couldn’t care less.

I will not allow my dreams
to be twisted and mutilated and contorted
until they are mere phantoms
of a failure’s regrets.

I will not dwindle away into a cold, hard
shell of a spirit
just because
I took a cue
from someone like
You.