11 O’Clock

 

In high school,

 

I did theatre, and still,

I can remember the 

haphazardly built auditorium,

the mahogany walls and ceiling built backwards,

scent of ancient basement 

and wet wood, on humid days

and practicing the 11 o’clock number meant opening night

was approaching fast. 

 

Now I’m 5 years off from 30, 

 

I don’t do theatre these days, but still, 

I remember that auditorium, 

in a building my high school

no longer occupies, that I haven’t been back to since graduation,

now I’m about to pass 

another graduation, the days are becoming humid

again, but the 11 o’clock number the musicals said I’d have,

isn’t approaching.