Ten feet up in the wings
perched on a scaffold tower
best seat in the house.
Hoisted clumsily to a three-plank seat
with only a right-hand glove
as the lamp gets very hot.
Twelve years old it’s
a big responsibility,
a lot to remember
working the stage right spotlight.
Always yellow for chorus, blue for night
pink for fairy, green for the baddie.
I was never afraid of the demon
played by my friend’s dad Eric
By the end of the week
I was word perfect with the show tunes
from Carousel, South Pacific, Oklahoma
and West Side Story.
I got all the jokes, even the grown-up ones,
unscripted mustard sandwich pranks
the prompts, the local hecklers too.
Every evening for one whole week
bookended by two shows each Saturday
I shone my purest pink beam
and sent my undying schoolboy love
to the good fairy, a teenage goddess
a beauty five years my senior
with never any chance of a smile.
*
© Graham R Sherwood 05/22
grahamrichardsherwood.co.uk 