3.4.11

Freewheeling

For L.

"There are three fields I work in,"
she said, "performance, video
and drawing." (Her father prompted
with proper suggestions to go on.)

"The performances are exhausting;
they all have to do with ropes,
climbing and descent. I'm not sure
whether they are Apollinian or

Dionysian, something else I have
been interested in. In one, I cut
a bowling alley in half, making holes
in the walls left and right at about

half height to hold the rings
for my rope. I went along towards
my audience, it was both strenuous
and exhilarating. Sometimes

I caught myself wanting to laugh:
what were all these people doing,
watching me with serious eyes
as I went along." Her father prompted,

"And one of your videos was..."
"... dancing along an ugly street
in funny yellow pants. I did many
iterations of this, varying my steps,

arm movements and behavior.
A friend of mine did the filming.
Mostly the people seemed per-
plexed, not knowing what to think

of this crazy person doing this,
making way, moving aside. Not
stopping." "Is there any money
in this?" somebody asked.

"In the videos? – I suppose
they could be sold. Or the drawings
I do – that's my third field
of activity." "And how do you

do them?" her father prompted.
"I make myself rules, I restrict
myself. One drawing might be
only boxes, for example, in only

five colors, but with other rules,
to increase complexity." "And
these you would sell, there is
a market for that?" her father said.

"There is a market, and, once
it has found you, it wants you
to repeat yourself. I could become
the colored box lady,

or the rope performer, or
the hip-hop dancer of dreary
streets, both Apollinian and
Dionysian." Thus ended Lou,

to soon perform an acte
morpheusien for a change.

– Iself (© 2011)

A freewheeling act for NaPoWriMo #3, concocted fresh from the lips of Lou herself last night.

7 comments:

Andy Sewina said...

Wonderful!

vivinfrance said...

Sorry, no German, bar the odd swearword. I loved your poem, it intrigued and teased me.

Stan Ski said...

Sounds like a hard act to follow.

Tilly Bud said...

Love this image: the colored box lady

Ron. said...

I really appreciated this, esp the comment about how, when the market finds you, it demands you repeat yourself.

Lou sounds fascinating. great inclusion of her father, to move things along.

Salute.

brenda w said...

A very effective piece! The father's prompting was interesting. I love the performer's offhand comments near the end, the market demanding repetition...supposing she could sell things... Issues touched upon that artists face set inside an intriguing story line...I enjoyed it.

Wayne Pitchko said...

for sure the image is nice...thanks for sharing