the traveling salesman

my acting career began
after my divorce.
I was looking for something
to do that
i'd been doing anyway
the entire marriage.
I played a part that came
strangely easy
to me. i hit my mark. stayed
up late, learning my lines.
my gestures, my
delivery was spot on.
it was a long running
play,
on a variety of stages.
mostly off broadway,
way off.
like in jersey.
my venue was the dinner
theater.
between acts I waited
on tables, served drinks.
if the food was good
I made money, if it was
bad, which it mostly was
they blamed me.
when the curtain opened
again for acts two or three,
my tables would wave
at me and say, look, there's
our waiter.
i'd wave back, blow them
a kiss before delivering my
lines. I was Willy
and sometimes Biff.