Steve Smith

as if it were just a moment ago that I was
on the new members list, young and eager
to paint Broadway backdrops.

Then my eye focuses like a spotlight
on a stage curtain as I read the names
of old colleagues; Carla, Cheryl and Arnold
in the recently deceased column.

Forty years ago we met on movie sets,
theatre stages and studios, solved crosswords
together during coffee breaks, celebrated
birthdays, new babies, romances, consoled
divorces, mourned the deaths of parents.

Now, they are shooting stars falling
and disappearing in the sky. I see their faces,
like candles blown out on birthday cakes.

About the author
Steve Smith earned a BFA at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Steve’s poems have appeared in The Kelsey Review, US1 Worksheets, The New Jersey Journal of Poetry, The Paterson Literary Review, Nerve Cowboy, The Barefoot Muse, as well as The Mid West Prairie Review. Steve resides in Pennington with his wife Fran.