Simple Song

    The are girls already settled
by the stage when I get there –

Hey, didn’t expect
      to see you here, Mandy says.
                        
      I wanted to see the new Metro.
        I wave, to the rest of the girls
           cramped between the stage and the wall,
                  and Dave and I broke up.

Well,     it’s good
to see you. Sharon hugs me.

                      The pit
               begins to stir as
      Bedford breaks through to the stage.

Mandy kisses me on the cheek
            Pass it on.
I turn to Sharon,              
                hesitate,
everyone down the chain giggles,
                    waits
                       for the kiss to get to them.

              First chord
                         incites   :   months
                                of pent up         energy
                                                       explodes.

              Thanks for having us,
                    for this first show at the new
                       Metro. It seems like we haven’t
                                       seen your faces in ages.

              Voices scream out
                        titles of favorite songs
                             and ones they haven’t
                               played in years.

                                                   He forgets
                                                              most of the words
                                                   letting the crowd fill in the
                                                                  blanks.

             The pit stops         moving.
                  No one
                      climbs on stage to sing along
             no one     stage dives.          
                     Everyone stares as
                                   Bedford plays through the motions,
                                              of what a set almost
                                              used to sound like.