They brought a woman from the street And made her sit in the stalls By threats By bribes By flattery Obliging her to share a little of her life with actors
But I don't understand art
Sit still, they said
But I don't want to see sad things
Sit still, they said
And she listened to everything Understanding some things But not others Laughing rarely, and always without knowing why Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again, said
If that's art I think it is hard work It was beyond me So much beyond my actual life
But something troubled her Something gnawed her peace And she came a second time, armoured with friends
Sit still, she said
And again, she listened to everything This time understanding different things This time untroubled that some things Could not be understood Laughing rarely but now without shame Sometimes suffering disgust Sometimes thoroughly amazed And in the light again said
This is art, it is hard work And one friend said, too hard for me And the other said, if you will I will come again Because I found it hard I felt honoured
Walter Matthau, 1985, he was at the bank and apparently took quite a shine to me as I wept in his face (“give her candy! Give her fifty dollars!”)
Daryl Hannah, bought $5 worth of cookies and lemonade from my lemonade stand in her vintage red convertible, 1989
Anna Maria Alberghetti, my neighbor in Los Angeles (and girlfriend of Dr. Pasternak, my mother’s OBGYN / the man who literally delivered me out of my mother’s body)
Steven Tyler, waking down the streets of Birmingham Michigan. Confused.
Katie Holmes, at the Detroit Metro airport, her security team mistook me for her at Christmas, circa 2004.
Buzz Aldrin, 2010, at Bar Centrale. Sitting with Nancy Opel and he walked past with his wife, and Nancy and I both realized that *HE HAS BEEN TO THE ACTUAL MOON.*
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2018, I sat NEXT TO HER at the Shakespeare Theatre Company Gala. She had a glass of sparkling wine. Divine.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment