Begin with Rejection
it keeps remarkably well.

Add an Instrument
and enough Stubbornness
to continue when nobody calls.

Fold in bad Hotels,
good Strangers,
and a Piano
with one Key clapping.

Season with Luck
sparingly.
Rarely in stock.

Practice until the Hands
know more than you do.

Bake beneath Stage Lights
until Success and Failure
become difficult to distinguish.

Serve to whoever comes—
Two Hundred,
Twenty,
or Seven.

When asked the secret,
say there wasn’t one.

You simply kept
the Oven on.