The Show

If not for the flying river and its kindness, then those of us who know its banks well would be

alone. So it has been for thousands of years. 

by Andrew Omar Martinez

I remember waking up, 

thunderstorms on the way. 

From our balcony, 

we felt the wind and 

Our next door neighbor screaming, some man who sells H. 

the lights go out 

Mom holds my cheek, she says 

I am too young to worry, 

I still have too much to see. 

So she pulls a camera and says 

it’s mine to remember everything 

We’re taking a trip to the big city. 

We drive overnight 

as soon as the rain stops

we pull off the highway, they need to smoke I think.

The shrubs and bushes smell wet, 

Maybe that’s just how weed burns. 

I imagine ghosts in the mountains 

When I’m alone here, 

I imagine they take my parents 

Out of wrath, or greed or lust or just because it’s right,

Because they left. 

I wonder if I’d have the courage to chase them

To face God, 

To face all that haunts my parents, 

To stand proud and say 

My parents are innocent, I know very well

You’re wrong. 

But they finish quickly 

Thankfully 

something flew from the mountains,

A hawk or 

A thunderbird, mom says, 

She thinks she saw it, so quickly 

Onward to that big city. I remember the pictures I took

selfies against the windows of our car, 

gifts for my parents. 

I’m awake again 

seated in the Dress Circle. 

The show just began and I’m crying quietly

John Caird’s stage adaptation of Spirited Away,

I’ve never seen a play. 

My eyes closed 

I can’t watch the puppet’s dance. 

I console myself, my fingers on my lips 

Too much that I still need to see. 

like

the courtyard of my apartment complex, 

everyone there, concrete is warm 

I get married here. 

an old theatre, 

Ponyo remastered, we are free to cry together, again.

A happy child, 

Feeding geese stale bread. 

I remember everything 

Especially these puppets, 

The dragon leading Chihiro, the one she’s always known,

flying around this stage. 

Soon I’m awake in the city 

Barely. 

drunk too much for summer 

Walking through warm lights 

Feeling dangerous

lucky. 

seagull flying in the street 

It stops in front of me. 

I make a deal 

My soul, 

Haunted, anything. 

In exchange 

my parents seated front row to Caird’s play 

An eighth for each of them, and a warm hand to their cheek.

They’ve never been to a show.