Scene: [Hardcore and Teddy are sitting in lawn chairs in front of Carl’s trailer. Teddy’s luggage sits near him.] Hardcore: Been good to see you, Teddy. I didn’t expect it. I don’t expect I’ll see you again, at least not in this life, ha ha. Teddy: Not unless you come […]
Act IV
[A makeshift Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in candlelight. Members of the Deep State are situated in the tent forming an audience for the Man in the Stove Pipe hat, who sits in a chair, rising occasionally to pace.] CHORUS: We prayed for divine intervention on this dark night, we […]
Act III Good People on Both Sides
Chorus: Being a Deep State actor tortures the soul with ungodly moral dilemmas, but decisions must be made in times of turmoil and trouble. Someone must rule. Regardless of our political party, our hypocrisy sustains our democracy, double double, boil and bubble. Someone must be cruel. Pragmatism trumps ideology. All […]
Act II
Good People on Both Sides: ACT II —Donald John Trump, Speech to the People in America’s Heartland—“very fine people”—2017 Chorus: As Deep State actors we share the burden of protecting the People from their worst instincts while protecting ourselves from what makes them distinct—their votes. Dance we must to keep […]
Good People on Both Sides
ACT I: Present day, sometime in the past-perfect subjunctive. A kitchen/living room in a mobile home in the heartland of America. Chorus: A blend of voices coming from shadowy figures in the background. Chorus: Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone you’ve heard us speak today. To sustain our relevance, we must remain […]
The Late American Republic: 2121
My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Will we still sing of thee in 2121? Will our song of freedom ring? My country, ‘tis no guarantee, fertile land of possibility, for thee I fear. Will we still sing free in 2121? Will our song […]
Hysterical Blindness
Conversion disorder. When you can’t walk or balance very well and can’t make your way through the real world, but there’s no neurological or physiological explanation. When you can’t hear real sounds, but your ears aren’t broken. When you can’t see real images, but your eyes and retinal theater are […]
Stages of Human Development: A Short Account
From my days as a blonde boy in the wild of mid-twentieth century Illinois to my nights as a grey beard in California, I—as have you with reference to your psychic progenitor—have changed. Musically, I still feel my roots in the soils of rhythm stout and durable in my body, […]
I Have Eaten the Plums: Forgive Me
So much depends upon a red wheel barrow. So sayeth the Bard. The blonde boy learned very young that he depended on drum sticks, guitars, typewriters, books, dictionaries, tape recorders, transistor radios, tv, vinyl records, microfiche—red wheel barrows he needed to clear a path into history where valuable artifacts had […]
Meeting Up with Frederick Lewis Douglass in the Library
The smell of the town library, light flowing in through stately windows, dust motes dancing in the beams, silvery twirls, the stacks, the ladders, the card catalogue, the stately librarian, the search afoot for books, guided by Dewey’s decimal system, the sitting down, the sinking in, the quiet…the total library […]