QueenBee

Tradition is

Runner beans

Shells being cracked open

Until fingers are sore -

Sitting around a table with

A game of Dutch Blitz going and

Graham crackers with peanut butter

Scared

Nervous

Terrified.

We step

One

At

A

Time

Onto

The stage.

Chairs.

Stands.

Folders.

Music.

Piano music,

Starting.

And we enter.

I always wanted to be a better player but

I didn't really understand

How.

Two years of

Sort of almost having to

Lead

Being the only one who

Really cared enough

To do my best.

I play for a lot of things.

That smile is one of them.

When we're doing something right

And you take fast four into two

And you're smiling and grinning and in full control

And we're not falling apart

I want to

Run into the shallows

Splash in the stream

Lay in the grass

I want to

Play in the forest

Race through the ocean

Be anywhere with you

At any pace

At any time

Anything

One flutist.

And empty auditorium.

A silent stage.

I can feel the silence reverberating around the space -

I can feel the lack of an orchestra at my back,

The invisible audience before me,