A breath of Theatricality

“A Breath of Theatricality”
By Gianna Schiller

The separation between delicate red curtains opens
its large mouth holds the key inside to a new world
a different story, a different place
a dazzling spectacle of lights cascade upon the blackened stage
sweat immediately forms like hot burning lava
escaping, oozing from an erupting volcano
a noise stabs my ears
making my insides do a split second summer salt
the music sounds faint to me, yet
the abrupt sound boiled my legs
turning them into penne pasta noodles
it evolves into an exploding mass of instruments
signaling the big entrance is about to come

Breathe...
Breathe..
Breathe...

the stars in a sky disappear
as night becomes day
and the floating heads in the audience fade
the theater becoming liquid ink before my eyes
why did my gut bubble like a coca cola
just three minutes before?
was there an invisible rope knotting
twisting, squeezing my core until it transformed
into a mess of soupy applesauce
curse you wretched stage fright
the first of many butterflies to escape my inner cocoon

Breathe...
Breathe...
Breathe..

my swelling right side of my brain is settled
at this point I am halfway through the first song
trying not to smile in my serious moment
everything is peachy now
I hear the pulse of an audience clap as
my heart claps with each pounding hit of hands
I breathed in the smell of fruity, overpowering amounts of hairspray
Walgreens lipstick and dusted fabric
I breathed comfort in the only home I know
the butterflies have flown from their clenched cocoon

A turtle can’t live without his shell
A drama queen can’t live without her stage, her spotlight.
I am the turtle.
the stage is my shell.