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First Prologue

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



-- Howard Barker,
from The Bite of the Night

Creative Commons LicenseLondon Still is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
©Alexandra Silber. Powered by Blogger.

MEMOIR

Memoir

As seen in White Hot Grief Parade:
  • Things I would tell my 17-year-old-self 
  • Lilly
  • Funeral! A "How-to" Guide 
  • The Jehovah's Witness 
  • For the Love of Words - Judy Chu 
  • Grandma
  • Baby Steps
  • The Death Bed 
  • A Trip to the Theatre  
  • Opa 
  •  The Laugh 
  • The Cat 
  • Big Trash Day 

Not seen in White Hot Grief Parade:
  • The Hogwarts Incident
  • Birmingham, Michigan
  • JeremEy Tiger
  • We do it or That Guy (Alpena, Michigan) 
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A collection of musings from a life in art...
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