by Cameron Ireland

SELF PORTRAIT AS A VENUE WITH INSUFFICIENT ADVERTISING

Cameron Ireland

The stage, well-set with reassuring lights and forceful floor, is not empty, but the speakers are set only a few click-clicks from silence

Tables topped with cream candles paired with comfy cushions on steady chairs dot the darkened room. Meager is the audience that looks to the curtain, uncertain of their expectations despite regular attendance.

Outside the shelter of two unassuming doors, always unlocked, often unopened, the cacophony of other lives passing by.

Somebody new stumbles in, drinking in the near silence as it slinks and shuts the doors. In their hand is the invitation: This poem.