Thursday, January 25, 2018

Unintended topicality

The last play I wrote is a one act called THE OLD BEATNIK. It opens this way:
AT RISE: focus on LOLA-20 in coffeehouse, reading a poem. Dressed in black. It is 1954.
LOLA-20 O America / if Paris had kept his cock in his pants / would a thousand ships never have launched?
CROSSFADE to Starbucks. EVELYN alone at a table, on her cell phone. Her attire reveals wealth. It is 2015.
 And later:
LOLA-20 O America / if you had kept your cock in your pants / would you have built your city not on a hill but in the valley? / If you had kept your cock in your pants, / would you have settled for a destiny less than manifest?
Given the recent climate of revealed male aggressive sexuality, there is a topicality here that was not on my mind as I wrote.

Doubt if I'll see a production of this before I pass but I sure would love to.
 LOLA-30 America, here are your divorce papers / I can’t live with you any more / We are too different // You get noisier every year / with your ad campaigns / with your patriotic speeches / and I cherish silence / for reflection and self-discovery // You think change is progress / and I think change also kills what does not need changing / rituals and cycles lost forever // You are forever buying things / a hoarder of possessions / and my mantra is Less Is More / my essentials on my back // You worship the dollar / and I worship the blade of grass / breaking through the sidewalk // You want to save the world / and I want to save myself // America, here are your divorce papers / I don’t want your City on a Hill / I don’t want your Manifest Destiny / I sing the music of the universe / My soul is dancing to Mulligan and Miles / and my spirit soars like a bird

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