A poem
Taking from Marnie's idea that your comments on Scott's latest post could be pasted into a poem and since I need poem for Poet to write at the end of the play, I thought we could try it out... all of you posting stanzas of sorts as comments on one theme.
So. Here's the setup. Act two, Rainboy has climbed into Poet's window and is listening to her headphones and eating her leftovers. And then we get to this part (it is a bit rough at the moment, but the ideas are there... bare with...):
RAINBOY
I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET
Yeah. That’s a good line. I’d like to write a line like that.
RAINBOY
No. I really am glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET
Ha, ha.
RAINBOY
I’m being totally serious.
POET
Uh... Okay....
RAINBOY
I was thinking about it.
POET
What? Dying?
RAINBOY takes a large bottle of Tylenol out of his suit pocket. He sets it in front of POET.
POET
Why are you carrying around a bottle of Tylenol?
RAINBOY
Because of you. And a glass of water.
POET
What are you talking about?
RAINBOY
Remember when I told you that I think a lot about not existing?
POET
Yeah…
RAINBOY
Well that’s what I was doing in the park before you I met you. Only I wasn’t just thinking about it. I was finally going to do something about it.
POET
With the Tylenol…
RAINBOY
Yep. But I forgot to bring water to take them with. And so I was sitting there in all of that rain with nothing to drink. It’s pretty funny actually. But I couldn’t laugh about it. All I could think was how I can’t even kill myself right. And then you showed up. And started talking about souls. And evaporation. And poetry. (beat) And now here I am, eating home-cooked food, listening to somebody named Bright Eyes who I’d never heard of before tonight, trying not to worship them, or you for that matter. So yeah. I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET starts to cry.
POET
I’m sorry… I just… I don’t know. I just can’t believe that you were going to… and you didn’t… because of me… Most of the time I feel so invisible… I want to exist so badly but no one ever seems to notice me. I don’t even notice me sometimes. And you… well, now you’re telling me I saved your life. I don’t know. Life is so … ironic.
_______________
And then POET finally decides to write the poem RAINBOY has been begging her to write.
I like it starting with:
"If I was a raindrop..."
and then (going from Kristin's monologue) describing how she might interact with him as this raindrop.
So. Any stanza/comments from that?
I'm excited about the possibilty of this poem being a collaboration between all of us.
And it will be read in the last scene in the park with everyone reading a different part of it.
So. Hit me.
PS -- i've been enjoying all your comments on other posts. have been working on the play instead of replying, but know that i'm reading them and taking them all in. i think you'll see them reflected in one way or another in the full draft which will be ready June 1st. hope you're all happy and getting ready for summer. i miss seeing your lovely faces.
So. Here's the setup. Act two, Rainboy has climbed into Poet's window and is listening to her headphones and eating her leftovers. And then we get to this part (it is a bit rough at the moment, but the ideas are there... bare with...):
RAINBOY
I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET
Yeah. That’s a good line. I’d like to write a line like that.
RAINBOY
No. I really am glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET
Ha, ha.
RAINBOY
I’m being totally serious.
POET
Uh... Okay....
RAINBOY
I was thinking about it.
POET
What? Dying?
RAINBOY takes a large bottle of Tylenol out of his suit pocket. He sets it in front of POET.
POET
Why are you carrying around a bottle of Tylenol?
RAINBOY
Because of you. And a glass of water.
POET
What are you talking about?
RAINBOY
Remember when I told you that I think a lot about not existing?
POET
Yeah…
RAINBOY
Well that’s what I was doing in the park before you I met you. Only I wasn’t just thinking about it. I was finally going to do something about it.
POET
With the Tylenol…
RAINBOY
Yep. But I forgot to bring water to take them with. And so I was sitting there in all of that rain with nothing to drink. It’s pretty funny actually. But I couldn’t laugh about it. All I could think was how I can’t even kill myself right. And then you showed up. And started talking about souls. And evaporation. And poetry. (beat) And now here I am, eating home-cooked food, listening to somebody named Bright Eyes who I’d never heard of before tonight, trying not to worship them, or you for that matter. So yeah. I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you.
POET starts to cry.
POET
I’m sorry… I just… I don’t know. I just can’t believe that you were going to… and you didn’t… because of me… Most of the time I feel so invisible… I want to exist so badly but no one ever seems to notice me. I don’t even notice me sometimes. And you… well, now you’re telling me I saved your life. I don’t know. Life is so … ironic.
_______________
And then POET finally decides to write the poem RAINBOY has been begging her to write.
I like it starting with:
"If I was a raindrop..."
and then (going from Kristin's monologue) describing how she might interact with him as this raindrop.
So. Any stanza/comments from that?
I'm excited about the possibilty of this poem being a collaboration between all of us.
And it will be read in the last scene in the park with everyone reading a different part of it.
So. Hit me.
PS -- i've been enjoying all your comments on other posts. have been working on the play instead of replying, but know that i'm reading them and taking them all in. i think you'll see them reflected in one way or another in the full draft which will be ready June 1st. hope you're all happy and getting ready for summer. i miss seeing your lovely faces.
posted by Joy at 11:09 PM
17 Comments:
I've looked at this post a few times now, but I'm really just hoping someone else will start it off to inspire me, because I don't know where to begin...
I just didn't want you to think that we were ignoring this!!
Ok, I don't know if this post has been abandoned or not, but I s'pose I'll give it a shot.
If I was a raindrop, I'd be sly in my fall. I'd dictate a summer rain breeze to jostle me this way and that, so you'd never know just where I'd fall. I'd drop slowly from overhead, forcing you to fret about my fate. I would float, gliding on the surface of the wind, and take my sweet old time - making you beg to see me up close for the glistening diamond I am. I would fall so slowly that by the time I reached the unforgiving pavement, you would care. You would care so much that you'd dive in front of the asphalt (no doubt considerably scraping your knees) to cushion my descent, and then I'd fall and shatter on you instead. You would consider yourself a hero, in a way: unable to save me, but you gave me a more dignified end. There would be nothing left for me to do but wait to fall on you again.
This post has not been abandoned. I actually left a space in the play for you guys to write this poem. We will work on it this summer and on the blog, so everybody should post things!
Think about it... your stanzas could be in this play and then when it's done in theatres and schools across the country and world and made into a blockbuster film, it'll be your name on the credits...
come on. write for me, guys.
Thanks Kristin and Marnie. These are stunning. Truly. And they fit beautifully with the play.
I don't think many people will heed your "come on, write for me, guys" plea because most people usually just assume that the top subject on the blog is the only one people write in.
And we all know what assuming does...
I think you're right, Marnie... but maybe if we just keep posting comments here people will get curious and check it out.
Actually, maybe I'll post some comments on the more recent posts too.
Feel free to join me.
I'm SO there.
Ok, I'm gonna give this a shot. It's not really a poem poem, but it'll do I suppose. Im gonna do it in my next post for organizational purposes because I also have another question: Janice, what's your e-mail address?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Any type of feedback would be appreciated.
If I was a raindrop, I would fall during a warm summer’s rain. Where the cold rain feels refreshing on your skin. Where you start to run as the once dripping rain suddenly explodes over the sky, sounding like a gigantic rattle and you put your hands up to cover your head and face in a futile effort until you realize how much you enjoy being in this rain and everything washes away from you and makes puddles on the pavement. Where you feel so relieved and you feel an invisible raindrop sliding down from the bridge to the tip of your nose where you can finally see it until it drips off and falls away, becoming lost in the sea and confusion of all the other raindrops that patter onto the sidewalk and you smile and continue on your way and soon forget why you feel so simply happy- no complexities in this emotional state, but you keep smiling anyways.
If I was a raindrop, I would be that raindrop.
But before that I would fly high above in a big thunderhead, sleeping, until the cloud opened and the sky burst with rain. I would fall speedily and end in an upward ark as I grabbed the tail of a warm gust of wind and rode it higher until jumping off and somersaulting downward, taking just enough time to reflect on my life and be satisfied before continuing my daredevil plunge.
I would hit your nose and slide down, unseen, until I reached the end and I would linger and fall, but leave just enough time to see you smile.
And as I fall away from you toward the pavement, in slow motion I would sit in the raindrop style of sitting cross-legged and watch the ground come close, knowing that I would hit soon and be content with that, because I would soon evaporate and fly upward just to do it all over, again and again and again. And I would be content with how I had thus far lived my life as a raindrop, and, in Nietzsche’s good faith and approval, be ready to do it all over again and again and again, not a bit differently.
And then I would hit.
If I was a raindrop, I would be that raindrop.
Gaa! I'm sorry that I just posted so many times in a row! I had to delete my original post that had my "poem" in it because I found a few typos.
if i were a raindrop i'd drip in your hair and dribble down your face and slip into your sneakers as you jump into puddles leaving you wondering how to describe that sound you love of dancing sneakers filled with raindrops
I really like Dani's a lot.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
If I were a raindrop I wouldn't worry about where I end up. I wouldn't care if I fell into the ocean, to join all the others into one giant raindrop. I wouldn't care if I fell on the cold hard cement of Chicago or Dublin. I wouldn't care if I settled softly on the tallest mountain top, a silver crystal in a sea of snow. I wouldn't care where I end up because it doesn't matter, as long as I get to experience the fall.
If anyone is still reading this...
I liked doing the "If I were a raindrop" phrases on those giant post-its yesterday. I think it looks a whole lot more meaningful when it's written graffiti-ish like that, because everyone's ideas crashed into each other and still managed to agree. Everything looks better on giant post-its!
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