Welcome into the fold

Never decorative, they embody a chair’s provisional character.
Utilitarian, never just there, called upon to serve.
Communal,  levelling its occupants, gathered for an occasion.
Rarely will it hold the sitters captive. 
It invites walkouts, even when secured by an admittance fee.
Repositionable, it favors assorted geometries of attention: the frontal
and single-focussed, the shifting and fidgety.
Unsung, stacked, piled against a wall, or hidden in closets, folding
chairs will be counted on again and again since they’re
both transient and ritual.

(This was a miniature window display in a jewelry store)