The Plays
Daily Life Everlasting [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
[And, during the singing,
with the things brought in one by one,
we start with ordinary household items for the yard sale
and gradually morph into wild art works.
So, first:
a decayed rotting beautiful tree stump
from the middle of the woods
is brought in on a little red wagon.
A girl or woman wearing a viking helmet with two horns
brings in a blue toy car in the shape of a loaf of bread
with six small flashlights in a row, sticking out the top of the car
that she pulls on a string
and leaves at the yard sale with the other items.
Somebody brings in a giant wire insect
and leaves it center stage.
Some of these items are arranged like works of art
by the artist Arman.
So there is a box of miscellaneous women's high heeled shoes
with a glass front on the box—like a box by Joseph Cornell.
And other such boxes of
tea kettles and house painting brushes.
A dress mannequin
on a stand with wheels
and hanging from the sides
a pitchfork and a big cane harvesting knife.
A couple more Arman boxes:
a box of trumpets with a glass front,
a box of monkey wrenches.
One big shiny ball
with another one placed on top of it
kind of like a snowman
but pink or orange.
A perfect rectangle
made of crushed beer cans.
A vast assemblage of
giant red lips
the reins and bit for a horse
blonde hair
a red sweater
etc etc etc.
is brought in.
A violinist comes in with his violin
looks around,
opens a big wooden bin at one side of one of the garages,
puts his violin into the bin,
puts one foot into the bin
and stomps the violin angrily
so we hear the loud crunching sound
of the smashing of the violin
And then the guy comes in with 25 bicycles
upside down and sideways
and extra tires
and repair tools
setting up his bike repair shop on the sidewalk.
And then another guy comes in with the Art Car
(a sign saying: "prices on request")
A wrecked, ruined tiny car
a Volkswagen convertible or a Smart car
full of crap
with a sign saying ART FOR SALE
with awful Pollack like random scrawls of paint
and smeared, dirty places on the canvases
paintings and sculptures
and the guy wears a Warhol wig.
