Withoutside

 "You know," he said,
"Sometimes, folks just don't got."



--

There is a silent house
On the street with the church
With
The Songs in it.

The silent windows of the house, I'm sure you'd remember
If you'd seen them:

      The windows with the “X”s in tape, you'd recall, I'm sure,
      On each of six window panes, an “X” in packing-tape.

Well,

Just under the planters of that house, under
The windows,

Peter
         “Subway” Burgoo scratches himself.

[He's been SICK on three swanky suits from the church so far]

Pete's groveling,

PLEASE!
to each of the passing trees.

Subway trudges, dumbly

Smoking his last cigarette, backwards,

His unfamiliar feet are oozing

From his scarecrow legs.    A dog is watching him.

SPIT.

And the strand won't break;
It bolas about his ankles and
he
    trips, but;

A bungee about his neck secures Subway Pete to the grid of clouds.

SNAP!

Something cracks open
His skull.

--

Meanwhile,
Through the windows, The Silent
Have watched Pete trudge
Up
and Down the street,

The one with the church
With The Songs in it.

They all know Subway Pete as the One

Whose breath could kill a hamster

          or a subway mouse.


-JV

 

Scene 1

A lit candle

An open laptop

A person

[Person closes laptop, which no longer lights their stupid face. Candle. Person speaks percussively right about the flame to put it out:]

PERSON: Pants. Penis. Porn

[The candle goes out on porn. The wick smokes. Person exits for half a beat, returns, snuffs wick between index finger and thumb.]

PERSON: [direct address] I dream better with no socks on. I

want you to understand. I steal sniffs of my sweaty-person smell and pretend its

your sweaty person;

I'm face in your pits and we're, sure as love is sweet, makin' sweet sweet, baby.

And then the grass gets complicated. And even

sunsets moonlight as undercover snowflakes, lawless as reason... 

And then there's U.

[U enters with swag. They wear a raggedy cap and bottle-cap glasses. U sucks their teeth, scratches crotch, shoves PERSON's head, and steps up, over and onto a plastic-wrapped couch which appears beneath them. They land on the couch and immediately feign impossibly relaxed.]

U: What the great fuck are you blathering about?

PERSON: I will the stars down out of ignorance. [Silence]

Do you believe in fulfillal?

U: [immediately] No. Fulfillment. And no. You have to learn to talk to people, Person. People fill you. If you're full of people, you will be filled by them.

It's my solace, Person; people,

People fill you.

[EYE appears wearing a trench coat and galoshes. They carry a water pistol. They point it as if taking careful aim at whomever they are speaking to.]

EYE: [Splirt of the pistol at U] Tautologous. [Splirt] You can literally say that about anything; If you're full of water, you will be filled by water. [Splirt] If you're full of corn grits, you will be filled by corn grits. If you're full of canker sores, you will be filled by canker sores. [Splirt] If you're full of the Madonna [Splirt], you little Michelangelo you [Splirt], you will be filled by the Madonna. [EYE pretends to take shots of the pistol at U with every new example sending the words like bullets:] Toothpaste, petrol, cat, fork, grace...

PERSON: Sunsets. [Launches a mime hand-grenade at U, after pulling the pin with their teeth.]

EYE: Yes, sunsets. Point is, U, you're reasoning is invalid. Your solace: invalid. Your operating under a system as lawless as -

PERSON: - snowflakes.

EYE: There you have it. [Splirt]

Snowflakes. No law;

Invalid.

[EYE pretends to take 2 shots of the pistol at U , making a splirt sound with each shot.]


-JV

For Charles

I rinsed an apple for
A child who came into the market,  

Thank you,
Sir, they said,
then,

The Apple, turned
Over in their hands revealing a face, which
Winked at me.

The child wasn't wearing shoes.

I wondered where their parents had run off to, smirking.

You're very welcome.

There were three customers behind him,
Irritated, all
wearing
Shoes.

Your feet are really sad, the child warned seriously,

They're sad, ya know? Like

                        Monsters; Monsters
                                          who 
                                   only become
                        Monsters 
                        because they're forced to hide.


The next customer,
Drowsy, and
In a hurry,
coughed a nasty nasty cough,
                                  and

The Apple hid its face again
  in the child's hands.


-JV