BACKSTAGE PASS

The rigging has come down again. Just last week

you fed on the free candy from the bank’s candy dish.

Now you will be everywhere: Toronto, Ithaca,

Chicopee Falls. It’s a bigger job than you expected.

So many components to the trap drum set: pedals,

wingnuts, hi-hat, snare. Be gentle with the heads. Yes,

that’s what they’re really called—check the package.

Just keep the bandmates happy, mister, just bring them

fudge, the Bud they asked for, the Amstel Light.

Whatever you have to do to keep yourself: in the back

of the bus, on a bumpy road, the scent of their underarms,

their bobbing heads, patting the back of your wrist.

Did you remember to pack extra sticks, the strings

and picks. Did you check. One, two. Did you check.