In a back bedroom upstairs stands an antique armoire- <br />a four by eight foot clothespress of Spanish dark maple- <br />ornate cornice and frieze overhanging double doors, <br />brass hinges and doorknobs gone verdigris, <br />carved diamond shapes inset in each door panel- <br />a facade behind which odds and ends hang and lay <br />in skewed disarray like discarded costumes, <br />soiled and stained with sweat and greasepaint. <br /> <br />Open the doors and look within, I say- <br />see the pair of brown corduroy knickers at the back, <br />seat worn through in spots, a rip over one knee, <br />a splintered hockey stick lying athwart the abraded fabric- <br />mute testament of a youth spent in mock battle. <br /> <br />Note the pile of wrinkled and mildewed clothing- <br />Army garrison cap, uniform jacket, faded service ribbons <br />and tarnished brass buttons-a castoff costume <br />from a two-year run in an Asian theater production <br />that featured a cast of thousands. <br /> <br />Close the double diamond doors! <br />Transform rage to metaphors <br />and similes in lines of verse! <br />Take up brush and paint! <br />Give life to images in the mind's eye! <br /> <br />Put on the garb of citizen artist! <br />Get this show on the road! <br /> <br />LIGHTS! ACTION!<br /><br />Michael Pruchnicki<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/closet-drama/
