Planet of the Two Queens

My life in THEATRE over before it started.
I flickered briefly as Peter Pan, then Wendy,

then on to Play Production where I flubbed
& stumbled. Demoted to script girl,

I whispered 'opening night' lines to drunk leads
in Planet of the Two Queens, a creaky sci-fi play

so dumb it hardly mattered. Backstage that night,
I thought: Maybe I'll try writing.

*

My sister & I grew up with imaginary friends,
books & movies. Sometimes asthma

kept me inside. Early on, my sister couldn't
say r's or j's. She lived behind the kitchen door

with blanket, dolls, toy telephone. She called it:
The Hotel Knickerbocker.

*

My sister became an actress, playing ingénues,
old ladies. Hilarious as Snoopy.

She got work, even a SAG card. But she needed
something steady, so 40 years 'behind the scenes.'

Raised two daughters. Wrote screenplays.
I read them all. Now she reads my poems.

We live in different cities. My hair gone gray.
Hers still a brilliant auburn.

On the phone, no joke—hard to say
which of us is talking.