Set Strike

I just took down the set for my last production as a high school director.

     Set Strike               

First, we remove what makes things

other than they are: the burlap bark,

the styrofoam stone, the painted canvas

cover – all that we pretend is real.

Next, we break down the basics,

the bones that held it all together

with wood and sweat and steel.

Last, comes the masking tape

marking where things were

and where they would be,

leaving nothing but an empty

space where it all begins

again by feel.