Recovering from the Tempest

you are my prologue
deemed unnecessary
in my novella
but scrutinized
by scholars in my epic

you are my prologue
pages that can be ripped
torn like the curtain
split from the ground up
words that made me be
plotted, charted, drafted
words before I could see [that]

you are my prologue
grains of salt before
specks of earth before
restored sight
soil within bellies of worms
before vineyards before
that last sip of wine
seeds planted before
future saplings before
the cross that made
all things restored,
after the Fall that dropped
the Earth and let her shatter
into pieces called World,
so that you could be
just prologue skimmed
as a note from critics
as a skipped producer's cut
for the 90 minute feature
you. are. just. prologue.