Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2011 v10n1
AMY BEEDER

The Minor Characters As They Appear

Hermes Army: a collection of perfume bottles that act
as chorus from the upstairs bathroom window. Aunt Magda
prays nightly over birth cords & baby teeth in a jam jar
  [the talking snuffbox lately stricken from the script]
La Virgen de Ló: through the magnifying glass perpetually

emerges from a pinto bean, unless it’s a trick or trompe l’oeil
  [the prop–master as usual requests you do not touch]
First Girl: stillborn but reincarnated as a shaft of sunlight
—which is a trick but still lucent as anything mote–lit
  [mind the passage when she enters/exits]

                                        &

Members of the Crowd who gather at parades or the daily
train’s arrival, milling & muttering peas & carrots;
Mr. Ether who bought his trailer for its painted–on shutters
  [please remember there’s no liquor in the sound booth]
Juan Aldo who coaxes music from ruminant skulls

  [while the nameless stagehands mouth the lines]
Second Girl: one leg made from chicken bones & netting;
finally the Wild Boy who escapes back into the vast forest
once our curiosity for a mute filthy urchin is sated 
  [& it’s time again to sweep up sawdust & confetti]  end