Steven Herrick

It’s like I thought it would be. Absolute silence. Just me and my poem. But, as I stand onstage preparing to start, I realize the audience is quiet because they want to hear me. Silence isn’t scary. It’s like Mr. Carey said, silence is my chance. And so I speak, slowly and clearly, and I don’t see the faces in front of me. I see the images of my poem, and I think only of what I’m saying and how much it means to me. My voice grows stronger and I don’t have to struggle to remember the words. I know them because I wrote them.