Velvet Rope

 Why don’t you stay

On that side of the room

If you’re going to go through
A list with me

Of what is and is not

Acceptable

For us?

I have come into this room

With a tacit agreement

That while I am here

I do not have to expect

Any kind of restraint

While I understand

That agreement

Is mandatory

I agreed

And I was told

That everyone else here

Was in agreement

Only to walk in

And find that there are

Other rooms

Behind other doors

That I am going

To be kept out of

I do not enjoy

Being kept out of

Rooms

When I have been told

That I will have

Full access

To any and all experiences

That any and all rooms

Have to offer

I have been kept out

Of too many places

And I am out of patience

You are not going to

Run through a checklist with me

And explain why I have to do this

And I have to do that

And tell me

It’s for my own good

I can understand

What’s for my own good

You knew exactly

What you were doing

Promising one thing

And giving me another

And I’ll tell you something--

I get it

I get that it’s the practice

To think you do not have to deliver

What was on the front of the brochure

But I did not come all the way here

And pay the kind of money I paid

To be told there are conditions

Do you know

How many phone calls I made?

Do you know

How many emails I sent?

Do you know

How hard I worked

To cover my bases

And make sure

That once I got here

All the lights would turn green?

The minute I got here

And I looked at the door

Behind the desk

An alarm went off

Just from me looking

And people came out

And spoke to me

In official-sounding voices

To tell me

That I shouldn’t look at that door

Because if I look at that door

I’m going to want to

Go through that door

And I can’t go through that door

Because through that door

Is a room

I’m not allowed to go in

And when I asked

How much it would be

To go through that door

I was told

That it wasn’t about money

When really

If it’s not about money

Then there’s no need

To keep anybody out of the room

That door leads to

If it’s a utility closet

Or a janitor’s closet

Or a conference room

Then why can’t I see it?

Why am I constantly

Denied entry

To what I’m then told

Are pedestrian places

That would have no interest to me

I know

What has

Interest

I am interested

I am a person

Who is interested

In many things

And many kinds of things

And I am sick of being told

That those things

Wouldn’t interest me

So that someone can steer me

Towards something else

Put the checklist down

And stand on that side of the room

While I go through
Whatever door I want

And if you want to stop me

You go ahead and try

But I doubt you can

I really doubt

You can