The Drama Teen’s Captivity Narrative by Maureen Kingston

The Drama Teen’s Captivity Narrative
She sits unnaturally still in the auditorium’s wood-slat chair, her back mast-straight, legs stowed like obedient spars. As the curtain rises on South Pacific she inhales, holds her breath for three full beats—the practiced pose of a daughter championing her mother’s cause. All daughters must learn to play such parts for small-town show.

See how her thumbs tap the playbill sheaf—in tandem—like oars slicing the tide, steering past faux beach scenes, past the enchanted evening’s bonfire bulbs. Soon she’ll duck into a private cove, weave fresh palm ribs into her stick map. It won’t be long now, her thatched plot to escape Potemkin Isle, the martial merriment, her mother’s command performances, nearly complete.

About the Poet
Maureen Kingston’s poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in B O D Y, Gargoyle, Gravel, Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal, The Screaming Sheep, So to Speak, Stoneboat, Terrain.org, and Verse Wisconsin. A few of her pieces have also been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart awards.