Mary Ruefle

The Stagehand

My job is to remove the shoes from the stage floor at the end of the first act, those belonging to the Countess, sweet low-heeled slippers of rose-colored satin with a square marcasite buckle. And again at the end of the third act, only this time there are three pairs, those of the dead Countess and her lover, and those of the witless Count who has tried to save his wife's life. I remove the shoes at the end so none of the actors will trip over them when they take their curtain call, which is when I stand in the wings and think if it weren’t for me there would be a disaster.

Mary Ruefle is an American poet, essayist, and professor. Her recent volumes, all from Wave Books, include Dunce, My Private Property, and Madness, Rack, and Honey, the latter a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. She is the poet laureate of the state of Vermont.