by Amanda McLeod
Our Country is the Stage
for this to work the audience must remain silent
a man is pulled backward into the wings
his disembodied hands reach forward
linger above an abandoned table
anything that is said now falls
through his fingers to the floor
a woman stares at words pooling
where the man used to be
before the light goes out
a shadow sprawls on the backdrop
holds a document no one can read, turns
it over and over black print on a black page
the audience sits
in the theatre’s dark bowl
anything that is said is a repetition of the night before
each movement blocked gestures rehearsed
our whispers muffled by the curtain’s sweep
an usher redirects the woman
away from the doors marked Exit
a minor spectacle she turns and nods in agreement
when you turn to ask what it means
I want to say of course of course I am listening
Jared Beloff is the author of Who Will Cradle Your Head (ELJ Editions, 2023) and the co-editor of Poets of Queens 2(Poets of Queens, 2024). His work can be found at AGNI, Baltimore Review, Image Journal, Pleiades and elsewhere. He is the Editor in Chief of Porcupine Literary. He is a teacher who lives in Queens, NY with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on his website www.jaredbeloff.com. IG: @Jared_W_Beloff Bluesky: @readinstead.bsky.social
Amanda McLeod is an Australian creative who can’t quite believe this is the world she’s living in.