Rehearsal

Working on a new play
after some years away
I am reminded
of the comfort I found
in the theater
from the beginning-
the familiarity
of blocking short-hand,
the feeling of belonging
cultivated by a cast,
the small and secret world
carved out by a production,
the satisfying impermanence
of a show's inevitable end-
and I feel a soothing fidelity
for the stage
as it affords
the fluid practice of imagination
a solitary space for exploration
and an innate abiding camaraderie.