Feedback, please.

Dear Readers,

If you are out there, gimme some feedback on this.


Bare stage, centre and downstage is a large free standing bathtub.
The tub is full of water.
Inside bathtub are two men. They are fully clothed.
On the floor next to the tub are several bars of soap, a wash cloth, a scrubbing brush and some industrial bleach.

MAN ONE: Slow, it was all very slow and measured and the tones of all their voices were similar/

MAN TWO: (So…)They’d spent a lot of time together?

The intonation was very pleasing to them, as when people like the same colour. They had chosen a pitch and stuck with it.

It bothered me slightly,/

Bothered you?

….In the showers amongst the steam. Were they meant to be uniform?

Like the birds that shriek and never chew, just swallow?

Scrunching up his nose They sneaked, as if performing exercises that would better define their shadows. I did not watch, rather I ogled as they rubbed one another’s backs, soap and foam creating marbled ripples on naked bodies. Stands and becomes physically involved in the descriptions
They were proud; proud of themselves and of each other.
It is funny the way they grabbed at their flesh, as if to make sure the brilliance of their composition is real. Not a mirage.

Was there a leader?

Shaking his head They were so slow, so slow I could barely make out their faces.

Are you having a dream? Maybe you are talking in your sleep and I am simply here to note everything down, for later.

Batting away the questions with hands Why can’t I move the bar of soap over my body as they do? I am too fast, too repetitive.
I cannot form ripples.
I cannot form.
I am not part of them.

With this toothbrush I wish I could glide across my crooked dental structure and make the shapes they do, in the showers, amongst the steam….

You already said that!

What?

You already said that, at the beginning. About the shower and the bodies and the steam. We already know.

Who is ‘we’?

Us?

Don’t snap at me. We seem to be stuck here together.

Yes, I am here next to you, listening to you. I have been responding? All this interrogation, this whole conversation is a bit tiresome, don’t you think? And the water, it’s gotten cold.

I just want to be like the people in the showers, I want to be able to move and form a whole as they do.
I cannot form./

A whole? If everyone felt whole there would be no yearning, no…effort? Can you think?
I mean, really place a fine tooth comb back over your life to a time when you were really persistent?
You just didn’t give up.
I find that I persisted with people, with friends, lovers.
Something so complicated, somehow becomes a tangible, attractive a pursuit. Not like the future.
That loams over ones head, heavy and different and angry.
Angry because it thinks you will splinter its smooth surface with mistakes and tangents.

But, for me to persist is just to watch?

Silence

Oh, you bore me.
So these people, these figures are they sexy?

They’re beautiful.

Sexy?

Perfect.

Sexy, isn’t perfect. On this line, Man 2 turns away from Man 1, resting his chin on the edge of the tub.

What were they doing? What were you doing? Did they notice you watching? Do you like the feeling of being watched?

pause

Do you? Turning around again Man 2 stares at Man 1. Their faces are now incredibly close to one another. It should be visually clear to the audience that Man 2 is making Man 1 uncomfortable.
Man 2 quickly bores of the uncomfortable situation he creates and breaks the stare.

So watching them; is that like having a shower and watching television at the same time? Or reading porn on a tightrope?

What?

I am just raising the stakes. Distracting us, I can tell we are both going to end up with a cold or worse a chill. Your lips are blue, not as blue as your eyes. More like the blue of the ocean on a cold day, when it has nothing to offer you. Would you like to see? Your lips? I can find a mirror..../

The ceiling isn’t very high. Don’t bother with…You shouldn’t even be here. What if they come back? I am trying to keep a low profile. I could be a crack in a tile. I could just keep watching. I don’t have to stop….I won’t stop.

Is watching enough?

What else is there?

You just want to live vicariously through others?

Stop asking questions!

Okay, I am going to stay and watch. THAT.... was a statement.

Statement?

Now, you are asking the questions. I am going to stay and see what all the bloody fuss is about.

Standing up Do you think, wet clinging clothing makes you more appealing? Perhaps the ripples of the clothing could be mistaken for muscular definition?

PFFT!

Well, the heaviness. It could make me slow, tranquil.

STOP!…shhh

They are both at once motionless and silent.

What are we listening to?

The lapping...You must feel calmer now?

Man 1 remains silent

Cover your eyes

Man 1 obeys the command

Perhaps when you open your eyes. I can be interesting to watch? This will merely help us to pass the time. Till they come back. I can take off my clothes. You can practice. Watching me?

Still with his eyes covered I’ll watch you; but please don’t take your clothes off.

What? The movement in the water, as I remove my pants? Are you afraid it will give you motion sickness!? I’ll be slow, careful.

No….motion sickness!? Shaking his head, eyes still covered by his hands No, I am far too discerning to see you naked.

You could never be as slow as they are.

I am not relating to you very well. And while I’m at it, people should always answer a question.

Man 1 removes his hands from his face, so he may see again You don’t even know me.

Man 2 splashes water at Man 1’s face.

Don’t sulk, you’ll change shape. You will be bulky and cumbersome and there will be no where to put you. Nobody likes a waste of space.

What are you? A little man from God? Fuck you!

Something is taking form within you and I don’t like it. You are lively. I don’t like it. Do you want to watch or not?/

What would you like to say to them? What should we say to them?

“Serve me love, like a knight. But be sure to use a sharp knife. Be pensive, not encouraging”…. I find enthusiasm for life, repulsive. Man 1 lets out a large exhale ‘sigh’…My expectations will flounder, won’t they?


Something is Illuminating within ourselves… we’re having a simultaneous premonition.

But we’re both wrong…

Nodding…And now our bulbs burn brighter.

Man One reaches over the side of the tub and grabs a hooded jumper lying on the floor, he puts it on, pulling the hood up onto his head.

Take off that hood!

There’s no point, fruitfulness has moved to my periphery and I’d rather forget it's even there. They are NEVER coming back!

It is terribly dangerous, especially for one whose wish to see and not be seen.

At least the danger gives me a little thrill

You’ve just got too much time.

Yes, I find I write ‘To Do’ lists when I’m unoccupied. You should see my dairy, its full of them, it is embarrassing.

Just think of the state of your memoirs....

Conversation Over Breakfast

Mr: You are not yourself.

Sir: Which self is lacking?

Mr: What? You’re very distance; it’s as if you’ve been dislodged.

Sir: I have relocated recently.

Mr: Your inner monologue is a dreadful bore, it’s so....need it now!

Sir: What’s wrong with a sense of urgency? I’ll be damned if I care whether it is all about consumerism or not! I’m a doer!

Mr: I tell you....you are NOT yourself at the moment

Life Changing.

Sir: ENDORPHINS! Have changed our lives.

Mr: I always forget. But we are very different now.

Sir: Trust me. I suggest if you aren’t aware of any difference and/or change in countenance, to follow suit anyway.

Mr: Is feedback welcome?

Sir: It’s encouraged!

Mr: I have an example!

Sir: Excellent.

Mr: If we stood behind lead light as the sun shone through the glass, our hearts would glow.

Sir: No bleeding here!

Mr: We haven’t cried in months.

Sir: HA! There you go... some evidence.

Mr: We read differently.

Sir: AND! More importantly we are read differently. Others are able to insert commas and breathe at the sight of us!

Mr: It is the unless, limp, unhealthy heart/

Sir: That drips grimy sugar blood. All that instant gratification...

Mr: Makes them thick in the head, they ply themselves with a cardboard insulation/

Sir: I’ve seen it!

Mr: A bulky eyesore to the clear brainers. They have no space to think.

Sir: We walk on clouds.

Mr: But, you know people do look excellent hung-over.

Sir: Only for one day! Endorphins, have changed our lives.

Sticking To Your Guns

Plans. Yes. Plans.

Make time.

Plans?

Make time!

P....p...plans...?

Make, time...!

(have)....Plans?

Make....TIME!

Ihaveplans.

(and) TIME.

Stolen Goods

I think I have stolen this Good Mood?

Perhaps.

Is it because I don’t put my head down when I am walking? At the moment

anyway.

Tomorrow will it

be at the bottom of my bag

bent?

People don't take care of things they find or...

...steal.

I was in a rush and then I forgot about it

and slowed down...

...and

was late.

I am early when I am nervous and history is proving that my nerves are relaxed

these days.

I seem to have collected it somewhere between here, right here

and six years into the future, that’s what I am thinking about, whilst being late and slowing down

and picking up

The Good Mood.

Collecting it and smiling about change that I don’t have to deal with...

...for at least four of the next six years.

THAT’s

when I started to walk,

slowly.

I dwell in a tunnel.

I saw some of myself today, just a little.

A bit. Of myself.

I admit this in the tunnel because there are no

shadows.

It is dark so

i can’t stare at the good bits.

Angles above the eye, but below the eyebrow,

the cheek bone.

The places that cast shadow and I always enjoy

these bits

of Me.

I saw a bit

just a bit

of me today, across a table, not ominous... but

...with a much faster heartbeat.

No point dwelling.

It will only make me

more late.

Tomorrow

I’ll think it was...

...healthy.

To have

just a quick slip in and out of the body

mindful

not to stretch it and

loose its shape.

Rambling Draft

Voice One: Stitch up your sides!
Voice Two: STITCH!
Voice Three: KNIT!
ALL: MEND!
Voice One: Sit in the gutter with your needle work
Voice Three: It’s been exciting that’s for sure.
Voice Two: We’ve burst the seams/
Voice One: You’ve burst the seams?
Voice Three: THE SEAMS HAVE BURST!
Voice Two: Souls spilling...
Voice One: Watch!
Voice Two: Everywhere/
Voice One: like oily puddles in the supermarket car park.
Voice Three: They’ve been crying.
Voice One: We all cried.
Voice Two: It is true that those who burst shed tears.
Voice Three: Eyes are tired from crying/
Voice One: Eyes are glazed and shine like the inside of a foil wrapper.
Voice Two: The wrapper of a chocolate bar/
Voice One: in the hands of the boy in the car park/
Voice Three: he didn’t have to cry/
Voice Two: this time round/
Voice One: he walked out of the automatic doors, sweet in hand.
Voice Three: His blood like ours is thick and greasy.
Voice One: He holds it in.
Voice Two: Holds it in?
Voice Three: He has not burst.
ALL: MEND!
Voice Two: They don’t want to sit in the gutter.
Voice Three: We can’t have people spilling everywhere.
Voice One: My eyes are sore/
Voice Three: It’s the glare, the reflection.
Voice One: The Soul is bright/
Voice Three: It is very bright.
ALL: MEND!
Voice Two: Stitch up the sides.
Voice One: Everyone has an acquaintance good at handy work.
Voice Three: Everyone knows a mother.
Voice Two: Are Mother’s good at handy work?
Voice Three: It all depends on whether or not the wounded are students.
Voice One: Why?
Voice Three: Because you have better social skills if you’re learning...
Voice Two: What if you’ve already learnt? What if you have finished learning?
Voice One: The students, they cultivate conversation/
Voice Three: study is social.
Voice One: Haven’t you noticed/
Voice Three: That you aren’t very good at making conversation anymore?
Voice Three: Everyone always talks about the same thing.
Voice One: The eternal monologue, It’s a bore....
Voice Two: Surely the spilling, the leak with be a good conversation starter
Voice One: I just want a clean line; I want rows of them in the gutter, mending themselves.
Voice Three: We should all take care
Voice Two: We are very precious
ALL: MEND!

Words Of Wisdom

I was in dire need of this mantra...

"I expect nothing of this conversation but our mutual entertainment"

Booze

After a bottle of sparkling
fine bubbles,
zesty and plucking my strand of decorum, frayed.
Pink, flushed skin like sandpaper,
cries to clean sheets as they try to recall a suppleness.

It will be windy in my dreams tonight.
A tacky mouth
is the window shutter snapping openshut,
the sloppy tongue
lathered thick with the white paste of truth,
foul smelling.

A lie is like a garden rose, fresh and transient,
you’ll remember it.
The truth, like manure will help you grow.

In Magazine Moods

In magazine moods
you can read and understand everything.
It is illuminating, I enjoy saying that word so much and it makes me think of Lee in Secretary.
So,
I’ll sing myself to sleep with these five syllables and wish you would leave me a tape on my dining room table for when I am in moods such as these.
Record on both sides with a complete breakdown of everything you think, in general, up to this very point in time.
It should be so to the point that it will be at once frustrating and painful to press stop and “deliver the goods” to my wooden table.

Oh dear…
I am feeling capable of clarity and that translates to me having another shot at contemplating what is going ON.

So,
we weren’t on a desert island, starved of choice.
There wasn’t to be any primitive lust manifesting itself as we sat on the couch and surely if such explosions were to take place, hindsight would reveal that it tasted exactly the same as everything that ever come before it, how empty. To be avoided.
But!
Our habitat was plush and conversations got built. Oh!
They were mighty and tough and they grew and we climbed them in an evening.

IT WAS PLAIN WONDERFUL.

In the past you would have pretended certain discussions were like a running tap and we SHOULDN’T WASTE WATER!
TURN IT OFF! You’d say.
It would leave me to make do with washing our wounds in some tepid muck.

I know that my magazine mood could be far better spent reading a newspaper. It pays to be well informed!
But!
I won’t be pretending that I don’t murmur about us to myself, please don’t either.
This wound isn’t attached to you or me, but we are standing and watching it,
The Weeping, Gaping Wound. The imagery is a poor choice I know, but we aren’t dressing it and would we exist if we did?
We spray beauteous perfume in its general direction and then we snatch at each others lips and pretend our tongues don’t grow longer from reaching and we pinch each other skin closer.
Then,
we let go and are a little baggier than before and we exercise distance and it is instantly strange.
But WE have willed it so.

Conversations in Reflection

Lately I have been snarling at my reflection.
One should be careful otherwise they end up eating their own tongue.
That’s NO fun!
Certainly not for the likes of you…
I think I look furry.
Perhaps you’re slowly becoming your animal totem?
I think that would make me rather proud.
Well at least use it to pounce, prowl and perhaps
Puncture some incomplete assumptions!
How can an assumption be incomplete?
If it lingers and lets you hover over reality as if it’s
Pending?
Exactly.
Well, then this is Perrrfect.