And Baby, That's Show Business For You
You wake up branded with the lines of pillow creases
Thunderbolted tree roots across your cheek
In turn, last night's mascara stains the ivory hotel pillowcase
Each one leaving their mark on the other
Looks like you're even
You say "good morning" to them when you walk in and they don't correct you
As they spray vodka on the armpits of the dancer's costumes
We learn these tricks along the way
The flesh toned bandage wrap
Covered by skin colored fishnets
Because you will cover the wound, no matter how deep it is
No one ever knew
And baby, that's show business for you
Sweat And Vanilla Perfume
Coffee stretch
Piano keys
Vocal warm ups in a locker room shower
Eyelash glue
A photo of him on the mirror
Sweat and vanilla perfume
The cracking of joints and the distant beat of a drum
The curtain call
The menotous thrill of it all
Plan it out so it doesn't look planned
Ten different backup plans
If your red bottomed heel breaks
You will keep strutting
Balancing on the walls of your blistered feet
Know your exits
Shoulders back
Eyes up
Hit your marks
Your winks
Sparks
Tell them a story like it's an intimate dinner party
The looks on their wondrous faces
Their expressions like mood rings
Isn't it all so majestic?
Of course it is
It's a lot of other things too
The Crowd Is Your King
Remember this city?
You've been here before in another life
On another tour
Remember her?
She's got a mortgage now
Straight teeth where there'd been metal brackets
Standing with her eight year old daughter
You mouth "I know you"
In the millisecond gap in your choreography
To you, she will look exactly the same age as when you first saw her
She will always be fourteen and a half
Remember
Lock right back into the footwork
Any missed step is a misstep
You must remember everything
But mostly this: the crowd is your king who has ruled over you for centuries
Benevolently for the most part
The Shiny Bug
Perhaps someday they will despise you again
Perhaps it is not a matter of "if," but "when?"
They'll re-assess your merits and then take a magnifying glass to the shiny bug
Deflate all the heroes they had decided she was
And maybe they'll do it just because
But you live by a strict code
Never believe your own mythology
Never type your name into the search bar
Let the wolves howl all they want
So you keep yourself too busy to ever learn what's-their-name's name
The Tiny Bubbles In Champagne
He ran to his car from work to catch the flight
Missed the first act but somehow it's better this way
It's just right because you get to watch him make his way through the masses
Parting the crowd like some neon Moses in a sequin sea
He is a magnet and a trampoline
The tiny bubbles in champagne
Haphazard but precise, he crash-landed next to you
Reckless, but never with your heart
If he's in, you are too
You've begun to feel that
Every song before was just a prayer
A wish list
He is not what you've been waiting for
He is more
Why you held out
Why you left
And nothing aches suddenly
He has that effect
The Life of a Showgirl (It's Beautiful, It's Rapturous, It's Frightening)
Tonight all these lives converge here
The mosaics of laughter and cocktails of tears
Where fraternal souls sing identical things
And it's beautiful, it's rapturous, it is frightening
It's worth everything it has cost you
And even at your darkest or drunkest
You wouldn't say any different
Would you?
You would choose all of it again
No matter how the story ends
With the ugliest boos or the loveliest boquet
They say that love is a choice you make every single day
And that is how you love the life of a showgirl
