THE SILK
(in his words)
I buy the silk
for $45.00 from a friend
we are already working on an ending
*
we meet every day
starting slowly
startling under the silk
*
she is already taking all the blame
breathing I love you I love you
in the rehearsal space
*
we spend hours & hours
getting in & out of the heart
I would like to do something else
*
I feel like an intruder
the words are following me around
her breast is a simple offering
*
I shake her shoulders
to produce a different sound
the sound of water falling
*
I have thrown the silk
for over an hour my arms
break the rhythm of my voice
*
we never know
if our hands might slip apart
I have stopped listening to her
*
how stumbly our lives are
& violence the quickest way
to stop the pain
*
I would like to expand
on the concept of pain
the specific degrees of pain
*
where there is no song
there is no pain
& no happiness
*
I am angry
I cry all night
what are you accusing me of?
*
the moon is in Scorpio
my toes move
my tears are familiar
*
we have blocked the final scene
it flows up into the heaters
in the roof
*
a man & a woman
are speaking over a corpse
they fold up the silk like washing
NOTE: “The Silk” incorporates some of the sensations of performance recorded
by the actors of “The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls”. I acknowledge the responses
of Fiona Brownlie, Joanne Gibbs, Jacinda Gilligan, Cherie Hart and Charlette Taylor.
from The Persistent Levitator, Wellington: Victoria UP, 1994
© Bernadette Hall
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