I auditioned for the part. And this way
I came to dance
to a confusion of heartbeat monitors and

portable radios. And so it fell upon me
to be the singing one
in a room given too much to silence.

In the intermittent light I was
speckled and
free. At the far end of each jaded afternoon

I was a six-foot dispenser of
effervescent drinks.
The ward was in need of a popular song

and I was it - a sponge to remove
unnecessary detail
from the ceiling so no one

was reminded of a world before
...