There is a Stage
Poems and Thoughts from the Anxious Poet
There is a Stage
There is a stage
called the present moment
that you are constantly stepping onto.
If you concentrate you can sense
its curtain call just under your navel,
that union of courage and instinct.
A breathing anchor
that keeps you right here
in the present action of your life.
A whole cast crosses this space,
playing parts not listed in the jaded
program notes of your past.
Only by being centered
are you able to grasp their
roles in the current production.
Only by choosing to value your life
as a performance worth watching
will you start to catch its gist.
Only by acting your part with
utter conviction will you know that
you are not the only author of your lines.
This peculiar kind of remembering,
is a calling forth, a reaching that releases
the brilliant self hidden in your wings.
I read this poem to a group of exciting people working in corporate social responsibility for Aviva. I had been asked to work with them on the whole idea of narrative and story, how unearthing our own personal story and its intersection with our work is a rich seam for thought and reflection. It was good work in spite of the snow, last Thursday, in Sheffield, that inundated the city for a day.
I wrote this poem when working with our local Church Drama group. We were putting on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the whole cast were staring behind the curtain in the Montgomery theatre in the centre of Sheffield. Around 150 people were in the audience and you could feel their presence on the other side of the curtain. The cast were all very nervous. I told the that they were about to experience a kind of magic, that they would all be fine and it would all happen through them. This was more an act of faith than certainty. Amazingly it turned out to be true and they gave a fabulous performance.
The two pictured above have both gone on to live fantastic lives. Holly is a doctor and John is a successful actor and writer. They are shining examples of the end of the poem. They have released the brilliant selves they had hiding in their wings.