Stand

Do you have the courage?
The courage that it takes to stand,
to stand alone.
When the rest of the world is sitting
on folding chairs,
staring up at the stage,
anticipating the rise of the curtains.
The many eyes of the audience is
unsettled by what is to come.
they wriggle in there plastic seats.
Making them creak as they
wait for you.
Hoping that you act.
Wishing that you would hold your hand out
as if to stop the pain
that will soon, silently, slide down upon them all.
You step out from behind the velvet
the spot light finds,
then blinds you
as you take center stage.
Standing there,
your limbs frozen to your sides.
Your throat cant unable to make a sound.
As if to shield you from there glances,
your arms cross against your waist.
The faces looking back at you,
all of them waiting.
Gripping the sides of there seats.
There toes are tapping against the floor.
Unable to control there anxiety.
Watching, as if nothing else as mattered more.
They are hoping that you will save them.
Can you stand alone?

carolinewashere wrote:Do you have the courage?
The courage that it takes to stand,
to stand alone.

I feel that the repetition is cooked to black here; it's well to express a point through reusing of these words but in this case, they don't seem to have brought together any new ideas - just a reiteration of the exact same idea over again, which is what should be avoided when writing. Just saying "Do you have the courage to stand alone?" would be a good replacement as your version sounds like it has been dragged on for a painfully long time.

When the rest of the world is sitting
on folding chairs,
staring up at the stage,
anticipating the rise of the curtains.
Waiting for you.
Hoping that you act.
Wishing that you would hold your hand out
as if to stop the pain
that will soon crash down upon them all.

The New York, gritty urban style of this poem is intruiging and so far it is working well for you because I am getting the image of someone preparing to perform in one of those back-alley drama theaters that are tight-knit in an intimate setting. The line breaks are what makes this work.

The last lines don't fit with the first ones, though, as it is vague (what pains the audience? Give us a hint - anything, really) and the quiet, almost tense anticipation setting of the beginning grates against your description of something "crashing" down, presumably loudly and with an impact like concrete.

You step out from behind the velvet
the spot light finds,
then blinds you
as you take center stage.
You stand there
motionless, wordless,
and unsure of how to act.

"Unsure of how to act" is a bare, basic description lacking any imagery. More than not, visual and auditory imagery is the best way to get a feeling across to the reader and so I would suggest having your narrator reflect on how he/she actually feels - the precipitation of the eyebrows, the twich of the eye itself, dry lips, silence flooding into his/her ears, etc.

The faces looking back at you,
all of them waiting,
watching,
and hoping that you will save them.

I really don't see or feel any connection between the audience's physical illustration and how they are supposedly feeling - apparently, there's a great calamity (I'm guessing this has something do with the precariousness and capriciousness of life and the audience represents the world) but you don't show it. You just tell us what's going on through the audience's mind; why not show us?

Do you have the courage?
The courage that it takes to stand,
to stand alone.

Again, unnecessary repetition...well, actually, I think this makes sense if you replace the first stanza with something more concise. That way, the beginning will be a generalization and the ending will zoom in to the microscopic level of the singular figure.

Hope that helped.

I didn't really see any structural abnormalities or mistakes, and the same goes for grammar. The spelling--everything. I would suggest capitalizing each line down, though, and maybe a little variation in the punctuation--it's pretty heavy on the commas. But I also empathize with the challenge of punctuating long poems. I loved the rhymes, all very natural, and the flow was good as well. I have one problem: I'm dying to know just what has happened/will happen. Please consider extending it or writing a sequel poem. I think you would be really good at writing fiction, too. Loved the emotion. Keep writing!