Holmes Holman
On the veranda at dusk, overlooking the magnificent grand lawn,
twin miniature ebony pachyderms trumpet across the slate, cross
in front of me as the dark simian leaps into my arms:
(V/O) Now I can solve the case!
The Broken Watch
A lotÕs going on at the Club, but as I step out and look at my watch
(Round white face and thin red hands) & -- the hands unsproing! In fact
The now single red hand pokes out the casing, like a wire or string, and
I pull it out. Upset, I call the watch company
To get the address
To send it back.
ItÕs not that big a deal,
the watch repair guy says. Hold
onto the hand, click and push
the casing and the crystal
should pop off. Then double over
and knot the string and poke
the knot into the little slit in the
center of the face, forcing it gentlyÉ.
Hey wait Š I shout into the phone, by now
IÕm walking through a manufacturing district
down by the trains. I donÕt want to become
a watch repairman! I just want to send
the watch in and get it fixed!....
By this time IÕm walking into a manufacturing/repair
building with a window in the wall where you talk
to the guys in the shop. A guy behind the window is
on the phone, and itÕs clear from his gesticulations Š
this is the guy IÕve been talking to on the phone Š
IÕve walked into the watch repair store, although
it looks much more industrial, with a shoe type metal repairing
last covered with glue, lots of greaseÉ The guy takes the watch
and motions for me to wait inside.
Inside is an apartment which doubles as a childcare center Š the kids
are just leaving so that the woman whose apartment it is can take over.
The palace is a drop-in hangout scene for actors, and I see my pal Sal
Principato on the TV. Women flirt with me. A guy with no arms leans
his shoulder in at me, his way of shaking hands. The dˇcor is spare,
the feeling warm, welcoming, clean, collegial. A woman in a beanbag chair
beckons me over to fuckÉ
The Shoe Store
Busy fancy hotel shoe store.
I need a pair of green shoes.
The smart, attractive woman
behind the corner points to a pair
of green alligator shoes, clearly
not my style, so she indicates
the man up the five or six steps
into the real sales area, and she says ŅShuss,Ó
ŅshoesÓ in a strange, dark, thick accent.
The man is older, chubby, sweating, working hard.
He indicates the shoes on the wall, well, there is one
nice green shoe in my size, rounded, vaguely clownish
but quite nice, but its mate is blue. The salesman looks
exasperated and says he will go look for a full pair.
IÕm left alone and time goes by and time goes by and I go
back to the woman who points to the croc shoes, shrugs,
sort of looks over to the side and when I walk through
the door and up the stairs to the back hall thereÕs
the salesman in a hallway filled with shoes and shoeboxes.
We look through them all.
It takes forever. In the end,
I donÕt mind the green and blue pair at all.
The Blimp
While walking thru a desolate highway/mall/suburban area,
I see thereÕs an airshow going on. A huge plane Š four wings?
And a large, classic science fiction-shaped rubber blimp ship.
Which starts to come straight at me.
I run, but I canÕt outrun it. It hits me, swallows me up,
there is an explosion, IÕm dead.
But IÕm still here, and enlist the
parking lot attendantÕs help to find my car.
Where is my family?
People act like nothingÕs happened.
But I am dead.
You can't aim a duck to death.
I was
A wanderer
I answered
The phone
ŅYou have come
here to dieÓ
Not quickly
Eventually
You
A home is not
Something you can buy
A love
Cannot
Be spoken
Here with you, singing
I write this poem
The Shape
We moved through seasons
Like fish
And we moved through the years
Like a gravel riverbed
Clouds
You must close your eyes
to listen
Your skin tells
everything
Mountain
We were in the Midwest
Looking for mountains
The wind couldnÕt go around
And there were no shadows
We called it ŅbedÓ
Last Night
A rain tonight, light on
the screen
I turn to see you
Looking at me
A night remembered
Like a place
Indelibly marke
On a map
Of us
Motionlessness in Motion
Brought together
By chance and rigor
The poem and
The hand
What Love Is
I put out my hand
Your face is there
On the Edge of the Old Lagoon
Our boat, our boat
Nestling into the lagoon
Your lips
Nestling into neck
Greek Zen
Your eyes come loose
My tongue lies down
ItÕs body partsÕ parade
While you and I hide out
Behind the statue
Of Dark, lit for us only
Bodies disappear in afternoon
Almost Perfect Gesture
Here at the airport connections
and farewells
But we live here. These tides.
Our easy breaths.
Back to Back in the Day
When I think of how you
Were before I knew you
I canÕt imagine
Such a world
Signature of All Things
Under your eyelid
The poem never sleeps
Effortlessly Human
Crossing the street
I cannot do it
I turn in the middle of traffic
And come home to you
Little Africa
If I were young now IÕd be in Africa
IÕve been there three times
YouÕve never been there
We tend the garden and we wait for rain
Dry as it is here on the edge
Of the Sahara
Anywhere in Particular
How did we end up here
In this place, in this bed,
In this sky, in this tomb,
In this shoe, in this kiss
I donÕt care itÕs everywhere
Being here with you.
Get
to the desk
With
a ladder
Throw
your long leg over
Cut
desk to fit chair
Cut
chair to fit desk
Cut
desk to fit chair
Drill
floor so chair fits under
Fall
through floor to barber shop
Call
it ŅMysteries of the Barber ShopÓ
Black
Cat Heads on Platters
I
wonÕt look back
Monkeys
on Polar Bear
The
grotesque growth
Follows
the Grotesque!
The
Nose of the Barber
The
hat of the clown
The
great suitcase of dreams
The
curtain of eventually
Behind
the Senegalese mask
Plant
the idea seed
into
the mind ground
and
grow the fruit idea
then
get a stomach ache
And
see which way youÕll follow
IÕm
not! IÕm in
Front
of you like a poem
lying
await in the con
Tinuous
presence it rolls
a
wheel of glass
That
feels right on noggin
&
rushes past language
Cheri: hi
Tom: o my god it's you!
Tom: how are you doin
Tom: did you just get home?
Cheri: modem...
Cheri: fine, how was bxville?
Tom: did you just get home?
Tom: bxvile was a total success, ty
Cheri: ty?
Tom: tanx you!
Tom: sd, do the intimite details of my dailiness truly intrigue you? not asked testily,
Tom: just curious
Cheri: they do, why?
Tom: it's an email thing
Tom: You've Got Mail opens soon, y'know
Cheri: its so funny that you call me h
Cheri: sounds like heroin and
Tom: you: Meg Ryan, me: Tom Hanks
Tom: and?...
Cheri: and
Cheri: and
Tom: heroin and hope
Cheri: a little bit mean but you're allowed to be mean
Tom: heroin and hookahs
Tom: no, I mean,
Cheri: Meg Ryan Tom Hanks????
Tom: it's a long ways and so many details left out
Tom: it's curious
Tom: they are stars of Honey You've Got an email aka
Tom: You've Got Mail
Tom: Featured on aol
Cheri: you mean that remake of
Tom: Times Sq
Cheri: I mean the sequel of that remake
Cheri: I FUCKING HATE MEG RYAN
Cheri: she s so wrong
Tom: did you know that Wm Honan came w/ me to Sarah Lawrence last nite
Tom: is Tom Hanks Mr Right, hmm?
Cheri: I didnt know that Wm Honan came with you to Sarah Lawrence but then again
Tom: heroin and halvah
Cheri: I dont know who or what Wm Honan & Sarah Lawrence are
Tom: heroin and hoopla
Cheri: so who are those ppl you spend your nights with???
Cheri: tell me T
Cheri: come on T
Tom: Sarah Lawrence: one of 7 Sisters, the female equiv of Ivy League
Tom: now of course almost all are integrated
Cheri: oh
Tom: The World's First Intercollegiate Poetry Slam
Tom: heroin and oh
Cheri: oh
Tom: in bxvl
Tom: where sl is
Tom: sl vs nyu vs bard
Cheri: who won?
Tom: Anne Waldman!
Tom: poetry won
Tom: a colleague
Tom: if I were yr boyfriend
Cheri: WOWOWOW
Tom: and you were my wife
Cheri: yes?
Cheri: curious
Tom: we would have dinner with yr colleague
Tom: Anne Waldman
Cheri: nice?
Tom: who seems to think i'm rather coolio
Cheri: what hard questions are there 2b asked on poslam?
Tom: is it important cultural moment really
Tom: where are the great poems
Tom: how does it differ from beats, besides marketing
Tom: can we go back to September,
Tom: or ahead to blank?
Cheri: why?
Tom: because the time in Canada
Cheri: OK: you hate the limbositutation
Cheri: understandably
Tom: it was limbo before
Cheri: so you want things closer or less close
Cheri: passive limbo
Cheri: now it's active limbo
Cheri: or some such
Tom: Perfect Title, may I steal (said he)
Tom: Active Limbo
Tom: It's active limbo because whyÉ.I must go take a pee
Tom: Can you answer the question: how did it, do you have an idea, it would help
Cheri: it changed cause you thought that I would be snatched away from the market soon while I needed you more
Tom: perfect
Tom: except
Tom: it gave me hope
Tom: and heroin
Cheri: hope for?
Tom: our living together
Tom: our love meshing life
Tom: sumpin like that
Cheri: I know
Cheri: you know I keep thinking about this
Cheri: obviously
Cheri: and I saw a th. today
Cheri: # 3
Tom: one of the two?
Cheri: preview
Tom: a trailer of the movie blockbuster soon to be released
Cheri: lol
Tom: a romantic interlude starring MR and TH
Cheri: yeah I did some screenings before to determine the plot
Tom: I'll bet those were hot auditions
Tom: so reality set in slowly after the cruel sun set over the Hudson
Cheri: yeah the guinea-pigs liked it and apparently market-research does have its advantages
Cheri: Banff
Tom: The cruel Banff
Cheri: Lake Louise please
Tom: The rough Banff
Cheri: Please Louise turn squirm
Tom: Scram damn Banff boof
Cheri: Louise freeze these
Cheri: Assfuckin Banff!!
Tom: Wait a second now
Cheri: lol
Tom: kiss me now baby
Cheri: Banff is kaputt!
Cheri: kiss kiss
Tom: before we drown
Tom: In the Brutal Louise!
Cheri: the case
Cheri: I know English grammar theory much better than Canadian
Cheri: dont ask why
Tom: i must go take a pee
Cheri: rotfl
Tom: will you wait?
Cheri: hokay
Cheri: piss piss
Cheri: Pisses in the bushes in the trashbarrel
pisses in the bed in heaven in the beerhall parlor
maybe itÕs a shit who gives a shit
Tom: he's back
Cheri: Tom pissed off the email
Tom: but the piss is long gone
Tom: in Lake Louise
Cheri: lol
Cheri: see this is why I'm reluctant to feed you Canadian words
Tom: poor Tom baby
Cheri: cause immediately you do some little wordplays in MY LANGUAGE damnit
Tom: would it be better if we were together
Cheri: better in what respect?
Tom: what are you afraid of?
Cheri: oh now you talk like this th. i met today
Tom: ouch
Cheri: afraid. lose control, cannot stop things,
Tom: that's what we've been talking about today, I thought
Tom: That there's no talk about our being together
Cheri: things just went to a different orbit after your visit and now
Cheri: we struggle to live with this
Cheri: and I can only imagine how hard this will be after our next meeting
Cheri: I'm really just scared please believe me
Cheri: it's not that I donÕt want to see you
Cheri: if I was indifferent we might as well have some nice days
Tom: for me (can I say that?)
Cheri: You mean I'm too self-absorbed?
Tom: we have gone as far as we could go
Tom: very painful
Tom: terrifying
Tom: as far as we could go, or at least as far as I could,
Tom: w/out actually doing something
Tom: having it be part of life
Tom: not a rupture
Cheri: you sound cranky
Cheri: i want to get to know all parts of you
Cheri: and you have ev. reason to be cranky of course
Cheri: and I'm getting on your nerves, I know
Tom: I think I'm too simplistic
Tom: will you help me?
Cheri: but that's OK
Tom: all true
Tom: let's start with this:
Tom: I love this
Tom: chattering away on im
Cheri: good start
Tom: words roil and disappear
Tom: etc
Cheri: but you want to see me and see me and see me and you cant see why I donÕt want to see you
Cheri: cause you make so many accomodations, like you
Cheri: YOU SHOULD BE CRANKY
Tom: what did you tell th. about what yr afraid of (don't have to answer)?
Cheri: I told her that I'm so afraid
Cheri: of
Cheri: that
Cheri: my
Cheri: uhm
Cheri: father would CUP my breast again like he did when I was 5
Cheri: and my mother
Cheri: uhm
Cheri: would tell me again that I was lying
Cheri: no
Cheri: say lol
Tom: lol
Cheri: you are cranky
Cheri: you dont laugh at my jokes
Cheri: you hate me a little
Cheri: you think: why her goddamit
Cheri: I told th. that I was afraid of th.
Tom: I don't hate you
Cheri: a little you do
Cheri: that I was afraid that th. would force me to do things I couldnÕt do
Cheri: that I hated the ethno-drums of other therapist
Tom: oy
Cheri: that I wasnÕt sure what my problem is
Cheri: that if she ever said one bad thing about any man I liked I was going to stop th.
Cheri: and that I wasnÕt even sure whether th. could help
Cheri: and then some anthropolgy stuff
Cheri: and she smiled
Cheri: and said: you're totally right. You should be careful.
Tom: She bought that?
Cheri: bought what?
Tom: what anthro stuff did you tell her?
Cheri: how th. wasnÕt scientifically proven
Tom: is she smart enuff?
Cheri: how different things work in diff. cultures
Cheri: how afraid I am that if this aint working nothing will cause th. is the thing our culture chooses
Cheri: to help people out of diff. situations
Cheri: so I didnt want to diss th. I just want it to work
Cheri: She bought that?
Cheri: bought what?
Tom: SD?
Cheri: y
Tom: It's been very painful for me recently
Cheri: yes
Tom: I feel better today
Tom: This is a good talk
Tom: "talk"
Cheri: good
Tom: is it good for you?
Cheri: th > I have no idea how smart she is but she was smart enough not to corner me
Cheri: and not to make me feel like "unconsciously i didnÕt want to do th." like this other woman said
Cheri: she took my concerns seriously
Tom: sounds good
Cheri: and said that I should stop seeing her when I felt uncomf.
Tom: v.g.
Cheri: and that she wouldnt think that this was something Freudian
Tom: no 5-yr old breast-cupping?
Cheri: (if I left) but just normal concerns
Cheri: no 5-yr old breast-cupping.
Cheri: so I said: really? really? you're just saying that arenÕt you?
Tom: ......
Cheri: she said: no. We donÕt know each other, it's difficult, maybe you wonÕt like what I say
Cheri: nothing complicated
Cheri: so I thought:
Tom: ........
Cheri: she gives me the freedom to leave so I can stay
Cheri: she seems very down-to-earth
Cheri: funny, normal
Tom: downside?
Cheri: like she could look at life from a non-Freudian perspective
Cheri: downside: she didnÕt say anything that blew me away
Tom: worth another visit
Tom: did you cry
Cheri: almost
Cheri: but then I saw a package full of Kleenex on the table
Cheri: and thought: nah
Cheri: NOT ME
Tom: atta girl
Cheri: atta?
Tom: i luvs ya kid
Tom: "That-a girl"
Tom: "That's the girl"
Cheri: did you cry?
Tom: first time back from the mountain I cried all hour
Tom: which is now 45 minutes
Cheri: oh no
Tom: oh yes
Cheri: poor lil thing
Tom: that's right
Cheri: how sad
Cheri: why?
Tom: I didn't want to leave you
Tom: this has been painful
Cheri: poor little baby
Cheri: I'm so sorry
Cheri: really
Tom: yr so sweet to me, tootsy
Cheri: yeah but I make you cry how shitty
Tom: you didn't kick me out, baby
Tom: or did you?
Cheri: thanks for reminding me
Cheri: I didnÕt
Cheri: I think you like closeness more than me
Tom: I don't want that again
Cheri: what?
Tom: next time I'll be prepared for distance
Cheri: what? the French & Indian War?
Tom: Bombs Over Baghdad
Tom: we can work together
Tom: and rule the world
Cheri: us!!! hahahaha!
Cheri: we couldnÕt even find the keys to the apt
Tom: makin fun of me again I see
Cheri: no no!
Tom: must go go
Cheri: I'm as forgetful I always forget things
Cheri: donÕt go go
Tom: may I come?
Cheri: please
Tom: you love it just like this, don't you, my tender heart?
Cheri: you have found me out
Cheri: I do
Tom: prickly ongoing nowness
Cheri: partly cause I 'm handicapped
Tom: ccumm again?
Cheri: partly cause I wanna gain time for us to not do something wrong
Cheri: I like it like this cause I prefer longing to closness and b)
Cheri: cause I wanna gain time for us to not do something wrong
Tom: I breathe love in yr ear
Tom: yr right, I like the closeness
Tom: or, say,
Tom: the promise of closeness
Cheri: and you should like the closeness
Tom: like next month say
Tom: why?
Cheri: it's good
Tom: and you?
Cheri: I like longing
Cheri: I liked closeness with my old boyfriend
Cheri: the daily routines, the shopping & cooking
Cheri: I really liked that
Cheri: but the fact that it would take a while, if ever, for us to have this
Tom: ?
Cheri: leads me to think that I like writing more than cooking & shopping
Cheri: but as I donÕt want to fly around the world for all my life i want to change this
Tom: did you cry
Cheri: almost
Cheri: but then I saw a package full of Kleenex on the table
Cheri: and thought: nah
Cheri: NOT ME
Tom: atta girl
Cheri: atta?
Tom: i luvs ya kid
Cheri: did you cry?
Tom: i cried all hour
Tom: which is now 45 minutes
Cheri: oh no
Tom: oh yes
Cheri: yeah but i make you cry how shitty
Tom: you didn't kick me out, baby
Tom: or did you?
Cheri: thanks for reminding me
Cheri: I didnÕt
Cheri: and I think that you are like a cat
Cheri: who wants to do their cat-thing
Cheri: snuggle and that
Cheri: and you donÕt want to fly around the world on your own
Cheri: which is a good thing
Cheri: and which is part of your appeal
Cheri: cause I want to eventually give up longdistance life
Cheri: but now you are a little cat
Cheri: and I am a handicapped performance poet
Tom: meow, baby
Cheri: who is into longing and writing
Cheri: see!
Cheri: I love you still lil cat
Tom: gotta go get my bitter pill
Cheri: the Zoloft?
Tom: is it Sunday yet?
Tom: nah, zoloft ain't bitter
Tom: from the Heartbreak Garage
Tom: where all the Brokenhearted people go to park their cars
Tom: ily
Cheri: cranky old man
Cheri: I love you too
Tom: naw, just a lil pussycat ready to snuggle
Cheri: you really are a cat
Tom: bye bye all alone perfpo with sweet smile
Cheri: bye om
Cheri: ye tommo
Cheri: I love you
Tom: thank you for being tender w/ me today
Cheri: sounds like I'm usually not
Tom: no, it's different somehow
Tom: do you feel it?
Tom: at all?
Cheri: mean
Tom: cornered
Cheri: I dont know from what it would be different
Cheri: I feel good about things
Cheri: I think we'll handle things OK
Tom: our situations aren't the same
Cheri: so?
Tom: that sounded angry
Cheri: not angry
Tom: SD?
Cheri: b
Cheri: yeah you have to go
Tom: how'd ya know?
Cheri: a reason to live with you to get enough of you for once
Tom: mindreader
Cheri: just blackmail me
Tom: bb baby
Cheri: b love
100% OF PROCEEDS WILL
GO TO ACORN, THE NEW ORLEANS MUSICIANSÕ CLINIC, TEXAS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL
KATRINA FUND, AND KALAMU YA SALAAMÕS NEO-GRIOT PROJECT.
I was dancing with my baby
And the waters were a risin
And the police were laughing away
It was zydeco and perhapsing
We was drowning and collapsing
The damn town was washing away
Wash away my sins wash away my friends
Wash away tender shores of New Orleans
There was a bayou Now
itÕs Ohio
There was some land now itÕs Canada
And donÕt we just love to call the Astrodome home
(Dome Sweet Dome)
And dear Katrina you fucked the dialogue
your Dark Interior Eye Revealing yr ol Bush hog
I was dancing w/ my baby on the watersÕ horizon
New Orleans was washing away
Mamaw,
see you in your kitchen headlines aflame
Bowl
of cereal, toast lightly buttered
Radio
sputters horrors as instant coffee cools
In
your dear London the fear of dailiness
This
war of the worlds where the aliens are us
Both
sides of the dream in Baghdad, Florida
The
hurricane this year named Big named Bad
Named
Wolf ahuffin and apuffin but will not
And
so in the midst of bursitis and cancer
Love
and the tears of anonymous sorrow
Love
and the work of lifting thin porcelain
To
lips that will not taste the harmonious kiss
MORE NIGHT
Whattafug? Decipher light, ok?
My eyes! My eyes! What about your eyes?
I dunno, they are hungry, I guess. So
What? Well, I -- gee, I "see" what "you"
"Mean." Oh, great, quotation marks--why
Not sperm? My my what mouth. That sounds
Like sex! Sperm? No, sorry, sperm is not sex.
Sperm is life. Like the night. The volcano. Of
Night. They meet. Under the great yes of night.
Over
and over
The
spinning gyres
Resuscitate
the pain
And
the hohummers
Parade
in their delusions
I
as usual am a Fount
Of
Nothingness
A
broken bone in the heart
If
you were here
I
would roll us
In
a tortilla
And
let the forest of night
The
desert of day
The
summer of eternity
Rock
us in the music of sweat
Open the Gates!
You canÕt open them! (They are already open)
You canÕt open them! (They are already open)
You cannot close Ōem either, there is nothing to protect!
Close em? Why? There is nothing to protect
You canÕt open Ōem, you cannot close Ōem!
The Gates!
Totally unlocked, pass thru & not going anywhere
Totally unlocked, pass thru & not going anywhere
Make list of what they are, make a list:
linen leaves,
felt flow,
troutÕs above!
Linen leaves, felt flow, troutÕs above!
Make a list of what they arenÕt:
unrivaled consequences,
natural surround,
fry baby!
Not unrivaled consequences, no
Not natural surround, no
Fry baby! Fry baby!
In the vast orange library of your tears
The saffron book is not there
Been checked out
Long overdue
I am under your shoe Waiting for you
Poems @ Gates
We walk the poems through, nodding politely, poems can do it by themselves
Unleashed they congregate in fountain corners, pocketed by duck pond bridge
Poems retire under the shadow of no sun, no gates, fall asleep and take over
BragginÕ Rites
I saw all The Gates today
Tomorrow theyÕll be gone
Kiss me quick
Sun Snow Gates
The snow knows
Just enough
Not to melt
Pillar of Wisdom
Put the 2nd Ave Subway
Through The Gates
Wrinkled Fabric
The burnt thumb of Destiny
The ironying board of God
Love
I will meet you
Under The Gates
One Way
There are many way to view The Gates
Rolled up like a newspaper
You swat the stars
Populace Recreation Art
I was there at The Gates
They separated like orange segments
Stuck in a dinosaurÕs smile
My Last Visit to The Gates
Luckily my last visit to The Gates
Coincided with The Hurricane,
The Flood, and The Big Fire
The Gates seemed soothing
In the midst of cataclysm
ThatÕs why they stayed
And thatÕs why I stayed
THE RITE OF SPRING......STREET
a ballet
IN TWO ACTS
Action/Art:
Tom Kovacevich
Words:
Bob Holman
Act I
spring street
ACT II
the rite
prelude............musical introduction
In a time long long ago people were drawn to a street
named
SPRING. They came from all over the around the world. They came for the
ŌriteÕ...........It was said that those who could master the ŌÕrite Ō ,
[ even just to witness it , might get something] would get whatever
you wanted......love, money, fame, immortality. you name it.. No
limitation on only dream. Nothing too preposterous.
Of course
only a few, maybe none ever understood the Ō rite Ō but they all tried
and kept trying no matter what it took.
ACT I Opens with characters from every where gathering
together on
spring street to interact, get knowledge, to create, to just be
near
each other, to learn , to discuss, to debate,to scheme, to dream, to
steal, to seduce, to love, to do anything to help themselves understand
the secrets of the Ō rite Ō
ACT II The ŌriteÕ. What is not known to the
characters who
gather in order to master the rite, is that there is nothing to
master. The rite Ō is Ō. Nothing more. Some found meaning,
others
saw nothing, some lost everything searching, others found themselves
and love, and discover that ŌisÕ is it.
the lights slowly fade
to black,
house lights come up
the
end
an explanation: in prelude itÕs just
music then act I
the Ō chorus Ō of characters all Ōdance Ō together on a Ōclosed Ō
stage. then act II on an Ōopen Ō stage the same
group of
characters Ō dance Ō . This allows visually the gathering of the
characters in act I and act II the characters are a part of the Ōrite
Ō some drive into and some do not drive into the water, there by Ōthe
rite Ō. Music accompanies the Ōdancers Ō in both acts. IÕll
work the
lights. The room is dark except for Ōour Ō lighting ie. spots etc. The
Ōaction Ō onstage will also be projected live on the screen with a
video camera. Bob will have a mic. HeÕll sit near me. He is Ōthe radio
announcer Ō.for an imaginary radio audience, but will be speaking to
the audience in the room
as though there is only a radio audience and not to them [ those in
the room ]. Thus Bob will announce to the radio audience what we are
doing. He tells the radio audience what the scene is like: bowery P
club, the set , the musicians,maybe an imagery Ōinterview Ōwith some
one Ōimportant Ō in the Ōart/music/poetry world Ō He whispers things
like........Óthe musicians are tuning, the stage is being set, the
dancers are stretching, the maestros approaching, or all imaginary
stuff, a mix real and not real,etc. Then something like : Ņ and
now
act I opens with characters gathering on Spring Street looking for the
Ō rite Ō and ? , act I finishes, pause lights dim while scene is
changed,more water etc. [ this is fast ].... In between acts I and II
Bob talks to the ŌradioÕ audience again about ? an interview or Ņas
the lights dim,we just saw ??, while I am changing the set etc. Then
whispers again Ņ and act Act II begins with Ōthe rite Ō and ? Ņ.
The breeze blew across the ground it was like it was pulling up the grass and the flowers and the birds were filling the bagpipes and the water was thrilled that enough of it could collect to make the rocks forget. Ah yes twirled the mustache with no face, itÕs spring again, I wonder why?
Characters: Hortencio, Ofilia, Esmeraldaroonie, Istanbul, Aldiborontifoscofornio, Lillith, Big George, Rachel
The Peace of Silence
Brushes up against
Leans into
Bumps into
Flips on to
Double back bend
O itÕs a day all right all night snakebite, a wind
smelling of change, a rocket rewinding
to its pad, a body shedding skin
for light, a see-through bone -- you
name it. IÕll not name it. In the dream
ItÕs now, sleepy
Mexican town and the gang hanging
round the broken-down car, turning
the corner so sharp you never know
What hits you when the lightning strikes, when
the comet settles in like a dusty moth for a landing,
when the submarine rises from the puddle.
I... yi yi. So fast you clip a mirror, big man with
greasy pony tail falls down dead at your foot and
you shot him no you didnÕt. That is lie! Then what is Truth?
Investigate the body in the autopsy garden, but
it is not until the party where they bring the horse right into the
living room that you are assigned the task of leading
the horse out of the living room, silently acknowledging as the party
goes on swirling and raucous ratchet you have been exonerated
that hot Mexican day turning cool Utah night breath
Freezes into the life you exhale, the life thatÕs brought you here.
Kind of like a birthday among friends, when you
run slam into the body you were born in. Passing a shadow
on the stair, was that you? or me? I believe it was, is, you
mutter as camera pans slowly round till you are viewing
the cameraman, I mean woman, the true
mother, the eye, not even the eye
It is like seeing
but without the eye
designer skeleton, underpinning
birdsong. A long time for color
forgetting everything,
in particular the metal curl
As
the President bounces on his head,
a
troop of 1000 berobed gospel singers
take
over the freeway, letting loose 1000
doves
who mutate into a single bassoon
solo
from Stravinsky's Firebird which
awakens
God causing her to tumble
down
from her High Chair, giving rise
to
the gospel choir's rendition of
"Humpty
Dumpty Sat on a Wall"
complete
with Jimi Hendrix guitar
solo,
making God very very happy,
and
the entire universe explodes
in
a single LAUGH which causes
the
President to stop bouncing on
his
head for a split second he thinks,
"What
have I done?"
Step brightly brightly zoom young man
Push your way if you half too young lady
Breast the momentum quakes of vigor
Multibrack flares and a tiny relay
IÕll be your daddy tonight alright
How bright a river, how mellow a sidewalk cracklin
Serve up another portion of your redeye gravy there Mom
And drop the drugstore on your twinkletoes remembrance
ThereÕs always a bassoon, a hot hand in the p-drip pants
Every blessed momentous crash of fannygans
And all over absolutes, sort of waxy, but without a clear indication
Of how the churchmouse rerouted the cheddar
To contemplate the burn plight night light ship or shape out
While every valley delights
And the guitar wails
The whales with guitars that is that is
Pronounce you Land and Life
One tiny tear soaks its way back up into the eye glint
Where you once went
With the dearly nearly queerly beloved
First time in a yellow buffle
While meanwhile there is no meanwhile
It was mobbed but he didnÕt show so we gonna get his ass here next
That Hungry March band really tore it up Š they marched their ass
Right out on the street Š Butch Morris and The Old Folks better watch
Out Š Sure we gonna do it next year and I hope he doesnÕt ever show up!
Thank You Haiku (for Mary Kite)
Thank
you thank you thank
You
thank you thank you thank you
Thank
you thank you thanks
That doesnÕt mean anything, she said, as the years ticked
by too busy to count meaningless count consumption activates
the neurotransmitter dopamine depression is rising inferring
To the limit to preserve slim chance to shoot through happiness
and come out the other side happiness behind us the frenzy
weÕve adopted in search of what we hope is happiness and
perfection is in fact a distraction mania a distraction happiness
distraction experience what matters not intellectual expectations
Again sing Happy! Raise your cups, Letters of daughters to fathers
A candle and a wall
The light the candle throws
On the walls: shadows
Dancing shadows time itself
Caught by surprise & turns looking
Head on in to your eyes
The shadow shapes the flickers
Candlelight the colors in the black
The black background
The bountiful imagery in the tiny
Light allowed by the candle
And the night the bigger darkness
You were inside the boat
I was on the shore
We raised glasses Š no music?
Hey! Drink, sing Š thatÕs music!
More more dancing and music, sing!
And then the blurring river
Soaked the moon, that silence.
Separation. What a way to go.
(After Po Chu-IÕs ŅSong of the PÕI-PÕaÓ)
You Can Have My Husband (But Please Don't Mess with My Man)
--Elizabeth at 65
Speech Ed says is bad song we whisp or
Never the brain shall circulate freely midst the air
As when this one night standing precipitously agangling
Might these words sense make back when they would
Of a sudden coast
The hurricane of well up
Not a moment too soon not a moment
Too late as when the x-ray hits the fan lots of glass
Everywhere except in the Club of Bologna on Brooklyn
How bland food burps, to remix the scratch
Now it sounds like all new Captain Beefheart
Sounds like your man RL Burnside who whisped
All over the monkey of Holly Springs which signifies
Absolutely everything, a keen note of red wine
Suddenly itÕs very secure
Socially that is, except then the
Rolling Stones cleave in with that Have you seen your mother
Baby, standing in the shadow? crap and I remember why the Beatles
Always touched me, no matter how many corpses float by
Speaking of touching, we seem to be doing an inordinate amount
Of it in our waking hours, just as
We do an ordinate amount of ŅitÓ in our sleeping ones
Try it. You sleep now, and I will watch your elegant form
Crack out of bed like a lobster sheds a shell
And you wave to me to come on and fly like a beagle
The very first dog in the Washington (NY) County 2005 Bird Census
So who cares if our friends run into bears, and our enemies spend years
With penguins? We who love the formerly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker, thatÕs who.
After all, itÕs six months till your income
Will subside like OtisÕs tide, which is when the secure checks will run in like herring on a highball. Your show will redefine art, defy the museum construct and still make people think things like green black ochre
night pink punk clam dam spurn brown flicker. ThatÕs why I On nights when youÕre waving I donÕt wave back even always. ItÕs so great watching you stir the air. WeÕre talking a gesture. WeÕre talking destination, IÕm in no hurry,
vermillion orange blue.