The Plays
Our Times: On the Street Where I Live [sample]
by Charles L. Mee
A guy brings in a statue of an upside down elephant,
not standing on his head, but standing on his extended trunk,
his hind legs up in the air
or does the elephant descend from heaven?
A woman enters,
with a tree branch growing out of her head
with birds in the branches.
Are the birds chirping?
two guys carrying small round café tables
pointed forward like a pair of glasses
and each of them has a single eyeball for a head
A woman enters on her hands and knees
with a glass coffee table on her back
and someone sets a coffee cup down on it,
and she exits
three decker hamburger
with tubes of paint instead of burger in the bun
was this brought in on the glass coffee table?
the white pig covered in tattoos
5 foot tall upright silver thumb
THE TREE BRANCH POET
For my part,
I don't understand.
I pay a babysitter so that I can go to Naidre's café
to write my poetry.
It's, you know, an expensive way to write poetry,
but with the baby at home
I don't get anything done
so all I know to do is pay the babysitter
and go to Naidre's café.
And there is this guy there named Bob,
a nice guy,
I've known him for years
and there's nothing uncomfortable in our relationship
he never made a pass at me
I never had a thing for him
but he sees me in the café
and he starts a conversation
I mean because we're neighbors
and he's a nice guy
and it's all very friendly
and he tells me what he's been up to
and all about his wife and his kids
and what he thinks about politics and the budget
and what plays he's seen recently
or: have you seen any movies?
and even he wants to talk about the production he saw at the Met
of Orpheus and Eurydice
and what he thought
and how he took voice lessons when he was a kid
and he's talking to me
and I'm thinking:
I'm paying a babysitter!
I'm paying a babysitter!
I don't think this conversation is worth $18 an hour
and I'm not writing any poetry!
and I'm paying $18 an hour,
and I can't go home yet
because the babysitter and I have a deal
and I can't mess up our deal
and run the risk of losing my babysitter!
[12 people on cell phones at the same time
having the same conversation
about a love affair
a breakup
each taking different lines of the same conversation
or of archtypical conversations around this event
archetypal lines
then music
and they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
they all sing
everyone sits in a semi circle singing
and making music with their instruments
finally one woman's harsh almost screaming singing
dominates the room
and people leave one by one
the last guy tries to stop her
and she kicks the shit out of him
gets him down on the ground
pounding and kicking him
while she finishes the song
when she leaves
several people come back out
with immense rolls of white paper
that they unroll to cover the floor
the whole stage floor is paper
and now a number of others come in
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and dance
and, while they dance,
they draw on the paper floor with pencils
and blood
red and black ink
with a sponge
so in the end you have a stage floor that looks like
a painting by Arshile Gorky
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
big music here
recorded classical music
the red and black ink runs down the rake into the gutter
a woman lifts her dress up above her head
hiding her upper body entirely
exposing herself from the waist down
and takes a long, slow exit
so, alone, covered with red and black ink—
after a pervasive feeling of tragedy that has come with everyone
spattered with this color of blood and dirt
looking wrecked,
now a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
a couple dances tenderly
to a heartbreaking piano solo
and they finally leave
