Your Name's on the List

Relax.
I checked.
Your name's on the list.
(everybody's is)

You're rehearsing at the tail of the queue —
the reasons you deserve to get in,
the outfit case, the guest-list plea,
the face you make for velvet rope men.
Save it. Put the speech away.
Tonight the list runs different:
the doorman's got one page, one line,
and the line says EVERYONE.
Watch him wave the nervous through.
Watch their shoulders learn the news.
The rope's unclipped. Been unclipped for years.
People queue from habit. Don't.

No dress code for the broken.
No cover for the lost.
The bouncer nods like a benediction:
you're expected. Go on in.

Your name's on the list!
(always was)
Spelled right, first page, in ink.
Stop rehearsing reasons at the door —
your name's on the list.

On the list.

On the list.
(always was)
First page.
(in ink)

Inside, nobody's checking wristbands.
The floor doesn't ask what you earn.
The girl in the borrowed denim jacket
is teaching strangers how to turn.
I found him on his break by the door
and asked him how the one-page works.
He said, "Twenty years on doors taught me
the list was always the queue itself."
Then he went back and held it open.
Some jobs are ministries in disguise.
He keeps mints and plasters in his jacket.
Twenty years of small salvations.

No dress code for the broken.
No cover for the lost.
The bouncer nods like a benediction:
you're expected. Go on in.

Your name's on the list!
(always was)
Spelled right, first page, in ink.
The denim girl leads by the door now —
your name's on the list.

The queue outside the window's moving.
The street shines like a welcome mat.
His table by the door holds water cups —
free, like the getting in.
Capacity: everyone.
Dress code: as you are.
Last entry: never.

Truth is — twenty years of doors will teach you —
whoever told you doors were verdicts
lied, or worked the wrong ones.
The clipboard's just a phone screen, blank.
The best doors are just hinges
waiting on your yes.
I've seen the list. I'm on it.
So are you. It's in ink.

Your name's on the list!

Your name's on the list!
(always was)
Spelled right, first page, in ink.
The whole queue's through the door, dancing —
your name's on the list.
(go on in)
Your name's on the list.
(go on in)
Your name's on the list.
(go on in)
Your name's on the list.