The Silent Ones

Slip

I missed all my cues
and forgot all my lines.
Spent five minutes
tying my black ribbon
and forgetting
that I was supposed to be
somebody else.

I couldn't stop thinking
about trashing your house
and the smell you left behind.

On the last note of my song
I turned to face the audience
and slipped.

In that moment
I watched an older version of myself
rip my name out of the playbill
and leave
without a second glance.

Then a voice whispered to me from behind the hot lights

"She was right, you are a disappointment."