(Prosthesis)

J:

Get that pathetic animal out of this room-- Out! Out of this room! Out!

(activity: enter N with device)

S:

Get that Bad boy out of this room-- Out! Out of this room! Out!

K:

Oh Bad Boy Neitzche-- why wear a dental instrument, obviously impeding speech?

VOICE:

Such dental instruments-- protection from powerful magic words -- I do believe

(as he exits)

K:

Ah, Dead words I am afraid-- all magic words are DEAD words-- as far one powerful magician is concerned.

S:

Oh please! The great magician are dead, all dead. You know it, I know it, why are we arguing about it

(animal in sack gets horse head, flog it. N in and embrace, exit.. Return pulling cart.)

Ow! my eyes. My eyes

ALL

Ow!, my eyes my eyes!

(N pulls in cart, package)

K:

Oh Bad boy, bad boy neitzche-- bad, bad boy-- Escape-- now or never, you bad bad boy

J:

Take off that dental instrument that impedes speech-- you bad bad boy. Explain yourself right now, explain yourself, you bad boy--

S: (screams, as N howls)

Ow! My eyes--

J:

Right now-- in front of our very eyes, you Bad boy -- Off with that dental instrument and pronounce magic words facilitating escape right this minute--

S:
Right in front of our eyes, please -- magic words to escape with, bad Boy Nietzche!!

N: (Pause, off mouthpiece-- others scared)

Escape, but from what, please?-- there many, many. many, so many, so many, so many--

(sack he’s been pulling into arms)

S:

No-- Right now, right now, -- You prove that Bad boy Neitzche is the greatest escape artist of all time. please. -- So escape, please -- in front of our eyes right now

J:

Wait a minute-- maybe there’s nothing here to escape from -- don’t you get it? Figure this out for me! Please figure this out for me!

(K in with airplane?)

N:

But please-- Here--There is nothing here to escape from here

Because there’s nothing HERE.

(all gagging)

And if there is nothing here

Then magic words --do not help in the escape from what is not here--

K:

No. The escape is through mental turbulence, laddie

Proof positive-- is mental turbulence

ALL

(Whirl with guteral noises)

N:

Dear friends who are brokenhearted-- do I invent-- airplanes with bananas for engines?

(others in all laugh, as horse appears)

Possibly-- escape is possible in such a fruit powered airplane?

K:

Too late for fruit power, laddie

(spasm)

S:
Dark outside -- dark inside-- aghhh!

J:

What could be happening-- black darkness could be falling down on Bad Boy Neitzche-- and everybody, everybody else-- could be inside that same black darkness

N::

The darkness-- falls.

ALL

Darkness falls!

(airplane in again)

VOICE:

Dark airplanes flying over a city that vanishes inside such darkness

Because no one is able to identify such airplanes

because airplane routes

--solidify into agendas of noise.

Which are giant noise umbrellas

J:

Noise umbrellas? Yes, these are noise umbrellas!

----

S:

No sign of rain-- is that because we are inside or outside?

N:

No, no, no-- it’s very dark, my friends. And when it’s very dark-- rain sends no signals to human beings.

But beautiful animals-- freed by that same darkness, animals imagine moving backwards, you see--

while oh so beautiful men and women--

being animals, my friends

try similar maneuvers

--moving backwards through self-consciousness

--which is indeed--moving backwards

K: (with apple, bananas)

Ah-- What kind of fruit --do beautiful animals prefer best of all, laddie?

VOICE:

Fruit Fruit

we all like fruit

we all do like tasty tempting

juicy fruit--

VOICE:

The nineteenth century falls on me like lead

(Pause)

N:

I’m really hungry. I’m really a very very hungry man--

K:
That means more fruit-- stuffed immediately

inside bad boy Neitzche--

because if this very big hunger is not completely satisfied,

then it won’t be satisfied, will it laddie

N:

I think not completely satisfied, please!

(Pause, fruit on probes)

Find out if you can make sense of this story!

(a reaction)

Only then you will understand me

K:
Ah, a hungry man finding potential escape routes through mutual understanding? -- sounds bad, laddie

J:

I must hear this story, please --which possibly explains many difficult things --

N:

Wrong. Because when I am understood-- that understanding is no longer a story, please

ALL:

Huh?

N:

YES, if you understand me-- Then NO! It’s no longer a story

ALL:

Huh?

J:

I have to believe that I have always understood one thing-- which is stories.

(gag--)

N: (crutches-- away--)

Understand this story-- then it’s no longer a story, please!

S:

That means it’s something more like a story than storiers that are like stories--

N:

Listen to this. Please?

The fighter airplanes in the darkness--

are airplanes that are crying-- help--

we are alone on earth.,

We are blind,

we are deaf,

we have no tactile sensations.

We consider ourselves the most frustrated of beings--

and drop many bombs with no hesitation whatsoever!.

(wrapped gift)

The one thing we lust for is aesthetic sensibility

and that too unfortunately--

(spasm)

even aesthetic sensibility--

is denied us!

(opens-- top hat-) (sing “Hat hat here is a hat what do you think of that,) (hats, but the others_

N:

What to do

what to do. what to do with this hat

what to do with a hat, a hat

(all top hats)

VOICE:

Oh, Horse with no top hat

does this seem fair?

Oh This does not seem fair to horses

Oh This does not seem fair to all animals in the world, including horses

N:

My beloved friend

Please

Take my hat.

(stuff)

N: (taking bowel, offered to horse)

Oh my God-- better and better and better-- Have fruit to eat, my beautiful friend! I love my friend--

(Hoist) (Box on N head)

S:

Horses never eat things after it’s dark outside

J:

No-- Is it’s not dark outside!

ALL:

It’s already dark outside

You know it’s dark when---

(struggle to speak)

S:

You know it’s dark, as soon as the lights go out

even if they never go out because

artificial light bulbs.

Not real, not really real

J:

Then it’s really dark, when it’s not really darkness--

--then it’s really dark dark

(scream. Pause)

N:

Listen to me, please. One of the most potent ideas I ever had,

as an idea--

J: (Pause)

Tell us your most potent ideas, Bad Boy Nietzche

N:

It was this idea --

K:

What idea

J:

What?

K:

What

N:

Correction.

ALL:

Huh?

N:

Fruit please. Fruit for all horses

K:
Oh, Never never never never fruit, laddie

N:

--in the center of each fruit -- there is a fruit pit, and that fruit pit --

J:

My God, it’s dark in here

K:

What?

N:

--that fruit pit was in fact-- a radio, in the center of that fruit. --And that whole fruit surrounding it --helps--

K:

Helps?

ALL

Help!

N:

Correction please. That whole fruit surrounding that fruit pit--

K:

What?

N:

--that whole fruit helps that radio-- hidden in the center of that fruit.

S:

Do my ears in particular--

K:

What?,

S:

Do they help such radios?

K:

Correction please--. Radios.

N:

Do your ears in particular-- have they sharp-- teeth to bite with, lady?

K:
Does this help, laddie? If ears have sharp teeth?

(foot stuff tied and bounce ball)

S: (Pause)

Have some fruit to bite on, bad boy Neitzche--

K:
Question please? Does Bad boy Neitzche eat fruit?

(stuff)

Does fruit turn into that very radio that fruit trying to imagine for itself?

N:

Fruit inside bowls which sit on small tables inside many rooms--

(bowls on rear)

but no radios in these many rooms,

but fruit ripening in rooms, and in the center of each fruit,

a radio growing to enormous size

S:
We must look inside empty rooms, to find fruit radios--

N: (*face and hands thru bd, others wiggle sticks)

Here’s what should be imagined please--

flying over dark cities at night --

J:

Correction-- blind!

(Oww!)

blind suddenly--

because I see letters burning from the tops of tall buildings --

Correction please--!

blinding light spelling the words " -----Hotel Radio".

(Voice “Hotel Radio, Hotel Radio)

sing J: (12 tone)Hotel Radio, fruit radio, which is fruit, which is radio, look look, radio-- listen, listen, ripe fruit, ripe fruit)

K:
Have we arrived, laddie? I think we’ve long since arrived -- Hotel Fruit Radio, you bad bad boy

(In radio)

S:

Where shall we put this fruit radio?

J:

Correction. Fruit Radio

N:

I see fruit radios arriving here, but I would rather see stuffed suitcases arriving

K:
Suitcases stuffed with what, laddie? Complete all possible catagoriesfor the rest of us--

N:

Stuffed stuff with stuff and stuff and stuff and stuff----

(lift stuff hoist)

K: (pins on floor)

Baggage well stuffed, I imagine?

N:

There is no imagining in this sitiuation-- not unless my own brain starts

operating in ways incongenial to me --defending myself against what, please? How can I possibly think of something incongenial inside such a brain that is stuffed and stuffed and stuffed--

J:
Let’s hope a genuine radio could take your mind off such problems, Bad Boy Neitzche

(“Open the door, fritz, open the door, fritz)

Bad Boy Nietzche--

N: (use pins like gymnastic)

Wait a minute-- Are we speaking my real name, please? Given to me -- the day of my birth in particular?

S:

Correction; Somebody’s real name.

K:

That’s part of being born into this world, laddie--

N:

We discover this by plugging radios into the available electricity, please

S:

Correction. Radios need electricity

K:

What electricity do you have in mind, laddie?

N:

Correction: I have electricity in mind.

VOICE:

The nineteenth century falls on me like lead.

N:

OK. Don’t plug radios into anything. Just put radios on tables, and let them pretend to be pieces of furniture.

(V: Hello there, I’m just a piece of furniture now)

(done, . Radio song? sing against (feel like dancing))

N:

Self discovery in a room. This has never seemed possible-- yet, me and my radio-- everything is possible now.

(song “Me and my shadow/ strolling down the avenue/ stepping together/ just the way that lovers do”)

K:

Do you escape now, Bad Boy Neitzche? Prove escape is possible, laddie

N:

Why should I escape what’s completely inside me? Correction

K:

Spin, man. Spin!

N:

Spin?

Spin! And everything mixes up? Correction

K:

Let’s try , laddie-- you and me both.

But you, of course-- spin inside out

N:

I spin inside myself.

“Me and my shadow--

My God, it’s happening again

K:
A special talent you have there, laddie

N:

Correction. Nobody but me sees it happening

K:

But I glue my eyes on Bad boy Nietzche for a suitable time period

N:

Correction. This is tomorrow

K:

I pick up on certain remarkable techniques

N:

I have no remarkable techniques, of course. I have no special talents

S:

Correction. You have no special talents, Bad Boy Nietzche.

N:

No, I never said about myself. Never Never

S:

We heard it on the radio, please! (fruit radio!)

-----(Voice loop)

N:

Careful about this please! I am not my own voice at all times-- do you understand who’s talking?

(others, cry--off. Pause)

Come back! Because you will eventually come back to me

(run out, return alone)

From whence arises my bitterness. My despondency

(all in , look)

Number one. Do not take seriously-- things I say, please. Magic words--? -- remember this please --Nothing I say is serious

S:

You look very serious, Bad Boy Nietzche.

(stuff)

Your face looks serious, your entire body looks serious

(things)

N:

Remember this above all things! There is nothing serious in the multitude of things I say to myself, just as there is nothing serious-- in the way my whole body dances--

K:

But you look serious, all the time, laddie

(stuff)

N:

What looks serious about me is never something serious--

K:

Ah, vice versa-- because--

(move)

There should be a noticeable brightness in the eyes of a non-serious person. But do we see such brightness in the eyes of Bad Boy Nietzche? I don’t think so-- and we are waiting to see such a brightness, laddie--

(all look-- ow!)

VOICE:

A hole-- opened in the sky, but nothing filled that hole, and it occupied time past as well as time future

and men and women climbed a specific mountain in order to see

into that hole, of which they had no specific idea, of course

because, it’s very existence

like that blank hole in the center of the eye

that moves

whenever they eye itself, moves.

And these men and women, better than blind now, shuffling in shoes and balancing

at the edge of something immense. . .

ALL:

Oh my God, oh my god--

VOICE:

Falling at last, into that hole of which they knew nothing

and nothing changed.

_____

N:

You depend upon me, please?

I tell you when, where and how

--plus: the escape to some more desirable city,

where spiritual considerations take precedence, though I do not name them

(strapped to cart)

And this is the correct moment-- not a moment before or a moment after--

because clocks, as usual, are climbing the stairs. But what stairs? What stairs, please, where clocks are climbing faster than we are climbing ourselves?

VOICE:

Once upon a time, such knowledge empowered bad boy nietzche in particular. He, who stood with confidence, ascended, step by step with confidence. And time, which stretched out in front of bad boy nietzche like it stretched in front of other people also--

But just like for other people-- time did hold a certain number of surprises for bad boy nietzche,

but bad boy nietzche was well prepared for these surprises,

because he knew -- surprises were coming.

And though he was understandably upset, yes-- when they happened,

and some of them did happen,

yet, bad boy nietzche was quite prepared to be upset by such unexpected things happening

And so --his expectations were always fulfilled

and there were no real surprises therefore, inside the surprises

that were always happening to him

J: (container)

What’s in this thing. I’m worried about that

N:

It’s a surprise, so -- nothing to worry about

J:
Then I better open it right now

N:

Ah-- That means trouble--! Very big trouble!

J: (pause)

Then you better open it.

(He does, lines till now, all overlap)

ALL LINES SPOKEN TILL NOW ARE REPEATED: EACH ACTOR SPEAKING AT THE SAME TIME, QUIETLY TO HIS OR HER SELF A MONOLOGUE OF LINES, AND ACTING OUT ALL ACTIONS, SO ALL LINES AND ACTIONS OVERLAP ONE ANOTHER, AND PROPS ARE MANIPULATED ACCORDINGLY.

RETURNS TO NORMAL TEXT ON PAGE 27

J:

Get that pathetic animal out of this room-- Out! Out of this room! Out!

Take off that dental instrument that impedes speech-- you bad bad boy. Explain yourself right now, explain yourself, you bad boy--

Right now-- in front of our very eyes, you Bad boy -- Off with that dental instrument and pronounce magic words facilitating escape right this minute--

Wait a minute-- maybe there’s nothing here to escape from -- don’t you get it? Figure this out for me! Please figure this out for me!

(K in with airplane?)

What could be happening-- black darkness could be falling down on Bad Boy Neitzche-- and everybody, everybody else-- could be inside that same black darkness

Noise umbrellas? Yes, these are noise umbrellas!

----

Could we hear this story --which possibly explains many things to us--

I have to believe that I can understand one thing-- which is stories.

(gag--)

No-- Is it’s not dark outside!

Then it’s really dark, when it’s not really darkness--

--then it’s really dark dark

(scream. Pause)

Tell us your most potent ideas, Bad Boy Nietzche

What?

My God, it’s dark in here

Correction-- blind!

(Oww!)

blind suddenly--

because I see letters burning from the tops of tall buildings --

Correction please--!

blinding light spelling the words " -----Hotel Radio".

(Voice “Hotel Radio, Hotel Radio)

sing J: (12 tone)Hotel Radio, fruit radio, which is fruit, which is radio, look look, radio-- listen, listen, ripe fruit, ripe fruit)

Correction. Fruit Radio

Let’s hope a genuine radio could take your mind off such problems, Bad Boy Neitzche

(“Open the door, fritz, open the door, fritz)

Bad Boy Nietzche--

What’s in this thing. I’m worried about that

Then I better open it right now

Then you better open it.

S:

Get that Bad boy out of this room-- Out! Out of this room! Out!

Oh please! The great magician are dead, all dead. You know it, I know it, why are we arguing about it

(animal in sack gets horse head, flog it. N in and embrace, exit.. Return pulling cart.)

Ow! my eyes. My eyes

Ow! My eyes--

Right in front of our eyes, please -- magic words to escape with, bad Boy Nietzche!!

No-- Right now, right now, -- You prove that Bad boy Neitzche is the greatest escape artist of all time. please. -- So escape, please -- in front of our eyes right now

Dark outside -- dark inside-- aghhh!

No sign of rain-- is that because we are inside or outside?

Then it has to be something even more like a story-- than a story

Horses never eat things after it’s dark outside

You know it’s dark, as soon as the lights go out

even if they never go out because

artificial light bulbs.

Not real, not really real

Do my ears in particular--

Do they help such radios?

Have some fruit to bite on, bad boy Neitzche--

We must look inside empty rooms, to find fruit radios--

Where shall we put this fruit radio?

Correction; Somebody’s real name.

Correction. Radios need electricity

Correction. You have no special talents, Bad Boy Nietzche.

We heard it on the radio, please! (fruit radio!)

-----(Voice loop)

You look very serious, Bad Boy Nietzche.

(stuff)

Your face looks serious, your entire body looks serious

(things)

K:

Oh Bad Boy Neitzche-- why wear a dental instrument, obviously impeding speech?

Ah, Dead words I am afraid-- all magic words are DEAD words-- as far one powerful magician is concerned.

Ow!, my eyes my eyes!

(N pulls in cart, package)

Oh Bad boy, bad boy neitzche-- bad, bad boy-- Escape-- now or never, you bad bad boy

No. The escape is through mental turbulence, laddie

Proof positive-- is mental turbulence

Too late for fruit power, laddie

(spasm)

Ah-- What kind of fruit --do beautiful animals prefer best of all, laddie?

That means more fruit-- stuffed immediately

inside bad boy Neitzche--

because if this very big hunger is not completely satisfied,

then it won’t be satisfied, will it laddie

Ah, a hungry man finds a potential escape route through mutual understanding? -- sounds bad, laddie

It’s already dark outside

You know it’s dark when---

(struggle to speak)

What idea

What

Oh, Never never never never fruit, laddie

What?

Helps?

What?

What?,

Correction please--. Radios.

Does this help, laddie? If ears have sharp teeth?

(foot stuff tied and bounce ball)

Question please? Does Bad boy Neitzche eat fruit?

(stuff)

Does fruit turn into that very radio that fruit trying to imagine for itself?

Have we arrived, laddie? I think we’ve long since arrived -- Hotel Fruit Radio, you bad bad boy

(In radio)

Suitcases stuffed with what, laddie? Complete all possible catagoriesfor the rest of us--

Baggage well stuffed, I imagine?

That’s part of being born into this world, laddie--

What electricity do you have in mind, laddie?

Do you escape now, Bad Boy Neitzche? Prove escape is possible, laddie

Spin, man. Spin!

Let’s try , laddie-- you and me both.

But you, of course-- spin inside out

A special talent you have there, laddie

But I glue my eyes on Bad boy Nietzche for a suitable time period

I pick up on certain remarkable techniques

But you look serious, all the time, laddie

(stuff)

Ah, vice versa-- because--

(move)

There should be a noticeable brightness in the eyes of a non-serious person. But do we see such brightness in the eyes of Bad Boy Nietzche? I don’t think so-- and we are waiting to see such a brightness, laddie--

(all look-- ow!)

N:

Escape, but from what, please?-- there many, many. many, so many, so many, so many--

(sack he’s been pulling into arms)

But please-- Here--There is nothing here to escape from here

Because there’s nothing HERE.

(all gagging)

And if there is nothing here

Then magic words --do not help in the escape from what is not here--

Dear friends who are brokenhearted-- do I invent-- airplanes with bananas for engines?

(others in all laugh, as horse appears)

Possibly-- escape is possible in such a fruit powered airplane?

The darkness-- falls.

No, no, no-- it’s very dark, my friends. And when it’s very dark-- rain sends no signals to human beings.

But beautiful animals-- freed by that same darkness, animals imagine moving backwards, you see--

while oh so beautiful men and women--

being animals, my friends

try similar maneuvers

--moving backwards through self-consciousness

--which is indeed--moving backwards

I’m really hungry. I’m really a very very hungry man--

I think not completely satisfied, please!

(Pause, fruit on probes)

Find out if you can make sense of this story!

(a reaction)

Only then you will understand me

Wrong. If I am understood-- Then it’s no longer a story, please

YES, if you understand me-- Then NO! it’s no longer a story

Understand this story-- then it’s no longer a story, please!

Listen to this. Please?

The fighter airplanes in the darkness--

are airplanes that are crying-- help--

we are alone on earth.,

We are blind,

we are deaf,

we have no tactile sensations.

We consider ourselves the most frustrated of beings--

and drop many bombs with no hesitation whatsoever!.

(wrapped gift)

The one thing we lust for is aesthetic sensibility

and that too unfortunately--

(spasm)

even aesthetic sensibility--

is denied us!

(opens-- top hat-) (sing “Hat hat here is a hat what do you think of that,) (hats, but the others_

What to do

what to do. what to do with this hat

what to do with a hat, a hat

(all top hats)

My beloved friend

Please

Take my hat.

(stuff)

(taking bowel, offered to horse)

Oh my God-- better and better and better-- Have fruit to eat, my beautiful friend! I love my friend--

(Hoist) (Box on N head)

Listen to me, please. One of the most potent ideas I ever had,

as an idea--

It was this idea --

Correction.

Fruit please. Fruit for all horses

--in the center of each fruit -- there is a fruit pit, and that fruit pit --

--that fruit pit was in fact-- a radio, in the center of that fruit. --And that whole fruit surrounding it --helps--

Correction please. That whole fruit surrounding that fruit pit--

--that whole fruit helps that radio-- hidden in the center of that fruit.

Do your ears in particular-- have they sharp-- teeth to bite with, lady?

Fruit inside bowls which sit on small tables inside many rooms--

(bowls on rear)

but no radios in these many rooms,

but fruit ripening in rooms, and in the center of each fruit,

a radio growing to enormous size

Here’s what should be imagined please--

flying over dark cities at night --

I see fruit radios arriving here, but I would rather see stuffed suitcases arriving

Stuffed stuff with stuff and stuff and stuff and stuff----

(lift stuff hoist)

There is no imagining in this sitiuation-- not unless my own brain starts

operating in ways incongenial to me --defending myself against what, please? How can I possibly think of something incongenial inside such a brain that is stuffed and stuffed and stuffed--

Wait a minute-- Are we speaking my real name, please? Given to me -- the day of my birth in particular?

We discover this by plugging radios into the available electricity, please

Correction: I have electricity in mind.

OK. Don’t plug radios into anything. Just put radios on tables, and let them pretend to be pieces of furniture.

Self discovery in a room. This has never seemed possible-- yet, me and my radio-- everything is possible now.

(song “Me and my shadow/ strolling down the avenue/ stepping together/ just the way that lovers do”)

Why should I escape what’s completely inside me? Correction

Spin?

Spin! And everything mixes up? Correction

I spin inside myself.

“Me and my shadow--

My God, it’s happening again

Correction. Nobody but me sees it happening

Correction. This is tomorrow

I have no remarkable techniques, of course. I have no special talents

No, I never said about myself. Never Never

Careful about this please! I am not my own voice at all times-- do you understand who’s talking?

(others, cry--off. Pause)

Come back! Because you will eventually come back to me

(run out, return alone)

From whence arises my bitterness. My despondency

(all in , look)

Number one. Do not take seriously-- things I say, please. Magic words--? -- remember this please --Nothing I say is serious

Remember this above all things! There is nothing serious in the multitude of things I say to myself, just as there is nothing serious-- in the way my whole body dances--

What looks serious about me is never something serious--

You depend upon me, please?

I tell you when, where and how

--plus: the escape to some more desirable city,

where spiritual considerations take precedence, though I do not name them

(strapped to cart)

And this is the correct moment-- not a moment before or a moment after--

because clocks, as usual, are climbing the stairs. But what stairs? What stairs, please, where clocks are climbing faster than we are climbing ourselves?

It’s a surprise, so -- nothing to worry about

Ah-- That means trouble--! Very big trouble!

(RETURN TO NORMAL TEXT)

! ! ! ! !

K:
Ah Bad Boy Nietzche--

bringing adventure into lives of boredom and anticipation, laddie

J:

This box Bad boy Nietzche told us was trouble-- ? Look at this box. It’s an empty box

N:

I would say, such a box is locked tight. Un-openable.

(Others puzzled)

J:

Look-- An empty box, please!

K:

You have a key, Bad boy Nietzche?

N:

Oh yes-- I have the key to that unopenable box

K:

Then open it a second time, please--

J:

But it’s empty--

K:

--because we’re hungry for un-imaginable adventure--

N:

This is to be avoided, my friends.

K:

On no, please. Can I believe bad boy Nietzche saying --“no” to adventure?

N:

Inside this empty box is something quite TERRIBLE, my friends--

(second box(barrel) N pushes down jackinbox, then into it)

K:

Correction.This isn’t bad boy nietzche talking--

S:

Who is talking when it isn’t bad boy Nietzche?

(N covered, cloth)

J:

The 19th century is falling down on top of me-- like lead.

S:

This is the 20th century, I believe?

J:

Asshole-- This is the 21st century happening to us this very minute--

ALL: (Scream)

I’m scared, I’m scared about things!!!

J: (N out, still under white)

I don’t know who he turns into when he comes out from that hiding place

VOICE: (as J strips. after apple eat, face on body)

Don’t hold me to promises I can’t keep

Because whatever I hold onto

loses the power of imagination

So don’t hold me to rules of proceedure

because where I go

the only reward is getting stuck

(in 3 cut outs, Rimbaud, Wagner, Marx)

So don’t hold me to the bubble

of my own ideas about things--

because that bubble

comes and goes like the whirlwind

called hurricane--

(off sheet)

hurricane in to the heart of things fast--

and that’s where I end up --

deep in the heart of things

--so don’t hold me to things talkable

until one of those really big hurricanes

blows me into a whole separate

catagory nobody counts on

because

everything changes,

Very soon, soon, soon-- everything changes in this neighborhood.

(wild 28

J:

OK. What famous 19th century bad boy poet, comes barreling into my private boudoir with hair slicked down with butter -- sucking his fingers because “Oh-- I burnt my toast, madam, I don’t know who I am now--so how can I wipe this big mustache off my face to lick butter from my lips and look at me, please, in the best, biggest mirror right now, please?

K:

Oh Anthony Rimbaud

make up your mind,

to produce significant changes in somebody’s life

that promises much more than such delicate maneuvers

can usually deliver

S:

We’re talking about speed, surface mail, I do believe

J: (probe gets letter from her legs)

Postman, postman, postman-- too fast to be believeably nice

K:

OK Anthony Rimbaud

submit yourself to multi-dimentional analysis, please--

that doesn’t just analysis the already obcelesent data of

hard fact

but rather

jumps into the you-know-what esoterica of feelings as plain as the nose on somebody’s else’s face.

(*big envelope-- apple inside)

ALL:

OW!

N:

I can’t help it if my brain is like electricity--

S: (as N eats apple)

Help yourself first, laddie-- that’s the important choice

N:

And I always do that, but--

(Pause, as J in snake)

There’s a bad problem that’s bad for me.

(Pause)

I have an appendage that swells up in the front of my body, and many other animal species have similar systems, yes? -- But who knows WHY? Nobody knows why -- because after it swells up big-- I come back to myself as a different person --

S:

In what way different, please?

N:

Totally different. Plop into a different world , plop into a different body.

S:

Good good good, little man from the other side of the world . Because some of us MAD and CRAZY BOYCHICKS are DYING on the spot for a taste of chinese food served up hot and spicy on the end of that swelled up appendage that speaks languages I never even heard of yet --

N: (as its done) (#10- 77, then 78

Careful please-- Because Chinese food leaves one hungry two hours later-- because Chinese food comes from the other side of the world, my friends, where everything is upside down, which is of course normal--

K:

Upside down -- does that mean the other side of the world, laddie?

N: (undress)

This is normal.

S:

But that’s OK, I think--

N:

This is normal!

S:

Because after all-- chinese babies come out upside down, but they are just as desirable as other kinds of babies, is this not true?

(sing “Chinese babies, we all love chinese babies etc)

(silverwear)

N:

Face it. I’m alarmed by what could be happening

K:

Face it, -- I’m kinda charmed by that

N:

Please, wipe me out! Wipe me out!

(back to wild 28

S:

Ok Ok OK, but before offering

the seat of somebody’s pants for significant collaboration--

look twice, my friend, because lips stick to whatever they pucker after

J:

I consider each kiss a commitment

K:

I consider each commitment like a jump

into the gene pool of imaginary castles in air-- but who walks after midnght?

(Gong “Chinese babies, chinese babies”)

N:

Is this the story of my life, please? I don’t like being chained to the wall by other people’s imagination

K: (small tank, in to J)

Oh please, laddie

If imagination’s the real subject

I pull out my anti-bullet revolver,

because the number of backward bullets is definitely a function

of spiritual depth

N:

Did you say death?

K:

That’s never spiritual, Laddie-- Because what that plumbs is tomorrow’s missed opportunities

ALL:

Ah! Ah! Ah!

S:

OK, Anthony Rimbaud

We all see your perpetual confusion

when the solution offered

shapes up like “why bother ME about such things?

K:

The lad’s head is spinning, I hope?

N:

That’s what I had in mind

S:

When I see that happening, -- double trouble

N: (fig leaf on handle)

But I like trouble

K:

Me too, laddie, but instead of just talking about it all the time

open a different door, please. Get a handle on it, please. Start pushing

N:

How come when you say push

all I can think of is a big kick in the ass

K:

Can we make that a promise, laddie?

N:

I never make promises --because I always keep my promises

K: (thinks)

Maybe that’s what makes everything so confusing, laddie

S: (in diver?)

OK Anthony Rimbaud

-- confusion is OK,

until somebody goes under for the third time

without signing up for one of those deep water bank accounts.

that mean--

all funds are liquid now, but what floats

is no loan of emotions

but one big load of responsibility

you can see through like glass

N:

Thank God-- I’m not afraid of deep water

K:

Then why bother swimming home, laddie?

when a long drink

gets everybody back to dry land-- just as fast

N: (10-86

For some reason I can’t drink with my mouth open

J:

Look, Anthony Rimbaud

You don’t have a problem, you have a solution

ALL: (drink on probe)

Bottoms up! Bottoms up!

N:

Nobody manipulates my moral values because I have one but not the other.

J:

That’s the idea , I think-- because your personnel tomorrow is already inside the ashcan of history

N:

Hey! -- that’s just around the corner.

S:

Think about it Anthony Rimbaud

you’re running out of hypothetical steam--

J:

I knew that yesterday, bitch--

(slap S)

-- so when somebody offers a big smile of encouragement, don’t smile back at me, please--

JUST --STAND THERE, PLEASE!

(Pause)

Right. Just stand there and don’t move a muscle

until you come up with one REALLY PENETRATING IDEA, PLEASE!

(Pause)

N:

Something inside me twitched. Here’s what I call a complementary catastrophy

J:

Tell me about it, please

N:

Briefly, I’m dead

J:

Then how come I’m talking to you, please?

N:

Smooth, sweet, but no kick--

Because what you want from me is non-directional babble--

S:

Liar!

N: (as J attacks S)

--because we all start imagining better endings to every story, ladies-- and that’s so EASY in a way, because going fast enough-- there’s nothing to be afraid of, right? Because whatever pops up next, turns into something else immediately, so who has time for promises?

(action)

And with no promises-- everybody takes a vacation at the drop of a hat-- preverbial, of course

(drop)

But I’m not afraid of accidents because accidents never happen--

VOICE: (hats on?)
My God, my God-- The nineteenth century falls on me, like lead.

N:

The wind blows from the north pole, but

I butter my hair, please-- I’m never afraid of burnt toast

K:

I’m never afraid of a bad taste in the imagination, laddie

S:

I’m never afraid of snake bites I can’t handle

J:

I’m never afraid of animals replacing my best friends--

N:

Who said the animals were here at last?

K:

This little guy’s just the ticket, Laddie--

J:

I’m so far from animal-- I live in a different realm completely

because my reading lamp is so illuminated

I can’t even shit

without one or two of my most important chapters

going down the toilet at the same time

N:

I know that now!

J:

What you know is shit, my friend: correction.

N:

I know about reading matter that causes serious trouble!

J:

Correction. What troubles me a couple of years from now?

N:

I didn’t say it was first of all verbal, but protestations are reminiscent of something I can’t remember until tomorrow--

J:

Are you fearless in my imagination only?

N:

Yes I am, I am finally in your imagination!

J:

I am finally in my own imagination.

(probes force drinks--ahhh!)

N:

I’m not afraid of high places, please, because skipping parts of the best adventure pushes me in whatever direction I choose-- because when the wind blows-- did I tell you this? I butter my hair--

S: (extinguishers

Burnt toast!? Oh Anthony Rimbaud, I smell burnt toast under the carpets

K:
What a slippery guy!

N:

Wrong, because I am never in control, please!

J:

Oh Anthony Rimbaud-- Is this my problem?

K:

Let’s just say-- an internal contradiction noboby can verify until the day after tomorrow and maybe not the day after tomorrow.

N: (stops)

Correction, please. Could I have my genuine nom de plume right now, please?

K:

Too late. Your genuine nom de plume just happens by accident to be my own genuine nome de plume.

N:

My brother, my brother!

K:

No thank you you, please-- what I’m looking for is no brother, you son of a bitch--

(both whipped?)

J: (Pause, whispers)

I am looking, for my teacher, please

N:

Who is this crazy person.

J:

Don’t be afraid of me

K:

My real name is Anthony Rimbaud. I butter my hair when it’s windy, I never speak to people I don’t like

(puts on mouth device)

N: (corset? glasses. big pencil)

Speak to me, please! Embrace me -- speak to me, please!

(Goes to horse, embrace, others out)

N: (Pause)

Ah. Now we share being alone-- one hundred percent

(Pause. Big pencil, big hand)

Once, believe it or not--I tried writing a letter with my left hand

(glasses on)

But I never found out if it was hard to read what my left hand had written, because I never looked at it after writing it, plus

I never showed it to anybody else

BUT it expressed something that my left hand and my left hand only was capable of expressing

(Pause)

Oh God-- Waiting for the flood gates to open, I do suppose

(Pause, whirls, falls)

K: (in)

Did you fall, madam

N:

-- how do such fools as these fools-- manage to know everything about my private life?

K:

Well, we heard a loud thud, laddie

N: (rising)

That's one possible explanation, I suppose?

K:

Talking about things inside your head-- does this seem important --?

N:

This seems important-- to prove such a thing--

K:

I don’t need more proof, laddie--

N:

I will break my own glasses

K:

Underfoot?

N: (does)

You see how important this is to me? I would hate to think you believed the opposite

K:

Ok. Lick it up with your tongue, old man

N:

With my tongue?

K:

With your tongue

N:

You see what happens to me at the slightest provocation? I resolve not to speak! Then I break my resolve

K:

Be more passionate, laddie

N:

Don’t you dare tell me to be more passionate.

(Pause)

Come on! Come on! Don’t you dare tell me to be more passionate--

K:

Old man, add “old man”

J:

Look, he broke his glasses.

VOICE:

Ah father! Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

N: (kneels)

Aiee!

J:

Now look-- he’s getting blood all over the floor!