Lost Poet:

Four Plays By Jesse Glass

BlazeVOX [books]
Buffalo, New York

Lost Poet, Four Plays By Jesse Glass Copyright 2010 Published by BlazeVOX [books] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without the publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in reviews. Printed in the United States of America Book design by Geoffrey Gatza First Edition ISBN: 9781935402398 Library of Congress Control Number : 2008932205 Note: The Lost Poet incorporates brief excerpts from Chivers Life of Poe (E.P. Dutton, 1952) Watts, Charles Henry. Thomas Holley Chivers; His Literary Career and His Poetry. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1956and The Unpublished Plays of Thomas Holley Chivers. (Scholars Facsimiles & Reprints, 1999). BlazeVOX [books] 14 Tremaine Ave Kenmore, NY 14217 Editor@blazevox.org

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These written screams are dedicated to the ashes of my father, Jesse G. Glass, Sr. (19352007), whose width of chest and corded muscles were once famous in the the stockyards and hay fields of Carroll County and beyond. Lover of peach brandy and autumn nights listening to the bawling hounds chase a fox nigh to exhaustion, stay clear of my dreams but find your proper home-(if you must venture from the urn behind the door)--among these pages. Iriya, Japan, 5/26/2009

Table of Contents

HOMELESS IN AMERICA .............................................................................. 9 DOVE HUNTING ........................................................................................... 45 THE LOST POET ............................................................................................. 55 WORM--A SEXUAL OPERA ...................................................................... 115

Lost Poet

HOMELESS IN AMERICA (1988)

CHARACTERS
MAN IN LIGHT JACKET PASSERSBY 1--7 (CAN BE PLAYED BY MASKED ACTORS) YOUNG MAN OLD LAUGHING MAN MAN PUSHING SHOPPING CART MAN (STEICHEN) WOMAN GIANT MAN WITH WITHERED HAND MAN IN TOP HAT REPORTER CHRISTA MCAULIFFE SCOBIE MALE VOICE ALL ACTION (EXCEPT THE BRIEF INTERLUDE INSIDE THE CHALLENGER'S CABIN) TAKES PLACE BEFORE THE PUBLIC LIBRARY STEPS, DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, JANUARY, 1986, FROM 10 A.M. TO DARK.

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SCENE 1. OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC LIBRARY, DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN. JANUARY, 1986. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Hey bro. You got a quarter? Fifty cents? PASSERBY 1. No. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Bro. You got? PASSERBY 2. No. *** A YOUNG MAN AND AN OLD MAN ON THE LIBRARY STEPS. THE OLD MAN HAS NO TEETH. THE OLD MAN LAUGHS WHILE THE YOUNG MAN SPEAKS. YOUNG MAN Get the fuck away from me, man. I know what you want. (3 BEATS.) Get over there on the other side of the steps. No, I ain't got what you're looking for, man. Get over there. THE OLD MAN CONTINUES TO LAUGH. DOESN'T MOVE.

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*** MALE VOICE (VOICE OVER) Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... MAN PUSHING SHOPPING CART Hallelujah! Christ gave little Lilly a new chain for her bicycle. She's resting comfortably beneath her stone now, thank you Jesus, down around Tampa. (TO PASSERBY) Hello Sir. PASSERBY 3. Hello. (CONTINUES TO WALK.) *** A BLIND AND DEAF MAN STANDS ON THE CORNER BLOWING A WHISTLE. HE CARRIES A CANE. HE IS SIX FEET FIVE INCHES TALL AND HE SLOUCHES AND DROOLS. HE'S DRESSED IN A HEAVY WINTER COAT WITH THE HOOD UP. THE HOOD IS DRAWN TIGHT AROUND HIS FACE. HE GRINS, TURNS HIS HEAD THIS WAY AND THAT AND BLINKS HIS SIGHTLESS EYES. HE BLOWS THE WHISTLE, RAPS THE CANE AGAINST THE CURB. THEN HE BLOWS AGAIN. HE STANDS TEN FEET AWAY FROM THE BUS STOP. SOME PASSERSBY STAND AND STARE. WOMAN It's too cold to stand out here this long .

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MAN How long we been out here? WOMAN My hands are blue. MAN Why's he blowing his whistle like that? Hey, shut up with the whistle for chrissake. WOMAN He's doing it again. He's not stopping it. MAN Hey you! Look at that dumb bastard blow. The spit's rolling outta his mouth. Hey dumb bastard. WOMAN Better not mess with him. He's a big one. MAN I knocked bigger ones than him down. WOMAN He's giving us a dirty look. (MAN WALKS OVER TO DEAF AND DUMB GIANT.)

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MAN You...don't blow that whistle...Hey you're blowing it...in my face! (GRABS THE GIANT BY THE COLLARS.) Do you know who this is? This is a real man talking. Nobody messes with me ! WOMAN Look..he can't hear you.

MAN Can't see me either. Looka this. (FLIPS THE BIRD.) I can do this and he can't see me do it. WOMAN Wonder if he can feel? MAN Hey buddy? You? (4 BEATS.) Ha Ha. He looked the other way. WOMAN You fooled him alright. MAN Looka this. Like the three stooges. Wooo Wooo Wooo! WOMAN Stop messing up his hair.

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(GIANT HOLDS OUT HIS PALM. HE IS HOLDING A DIRTY, TYPED INDEX CARD.) MAN You want to give me something? Oh, how kind. (SNATCHES CARD AWAY.) Let's see: I'm deaf, dumb, and blind. Please help me to the 54 bus. Looka this. I throw it away, ha ha. WOMAN Why'd you do that? MAN Because I can. Got it? Let's look for the food truck. WOMAN No. MAN Come on! WOMAN I'm not going. We've got to help that guy find a bus. MAN Suit yourself, but look. This guy's a waste of tissue. He's an ox, but he's weak. And the weak...the weak are guilty. You don't understand that. Let me SPELL IT OUT. This fellow with the whistle--him?--over there? He was born deficient, so he's guilty. He's guiltier than you and me and everybody in all the prisons put together, see. The weak aren't innocent. The weak are guilty as hell 'cause they drag down the status quo. And

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because they're guilty they should be punished. And if nobody else punishes them, I will. Understand? WOMAN I think so. MAN Now come on and let's look for the food truck. It should be around here. *** MAN IN TOP HAT My shoes are holding out this winter. MAN WITH WITHERED HAND The weather's not so bad. MAN IN TOP HAT My shoes and my socks. I've got four pair of socks. One sock--just one with a hole in it. This winter's been OK.

MAN WITH WITHERED HAND I know what you mean. Yes sir. Yes sir. I do. MAN IN TOP HAT Late last year. Yes sir, my shoes sure know how to travel. These are walking shoes, bud. Walking shoes. You don't know where these shoes have been. You just don't know. They walked all last year about this time.

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MAN WITH WITHERED HAND I hear you talking. Mmmmm hmmmmm. MAN IN TOP HAT But this weather, man! I can't believe it. *** MALE VOICE (VOICE OVER) Count down has been momentarily stopped at T-minus 5 seconds. T-minus five. We've been apprised of a...an er...computer function glitch. And it's Tminus 5 seconds. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Hey mister. Quarter? Fifty cents? PASSERBY 4 Get a job! (WALKS ON.)

MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Bro? PASSERBY 5 Believe in Jesus. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET I believe.

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PASSERBY 5 Jesus wants all his children to be wealthy. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET I know that. PASSERBY 5 Jesus wants all his fallen flock to have heat. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Amen!

PASSERBY 5 Jesus wants all his boys and girls to have everything he promised them from the cross when he shed his blood there for the sake of us all. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Yes. PASSERBY 5 Can you read? MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Uh huh.

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PASSERBY 5 (HANDING HIM A NEW TESTAMENT) I want you to carry this with you, and I want you to read it and think it over. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET I will. PASSERBY 5 That's all I want you to do. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET But how's about a... PASSERBY 5 Then think on these things awhile. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Friend... PASSERBY 5 Do it for your sake.

MAN IN LIGHT JACKET But...(PASSERBY 5 WALKS AWAY.)

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***

WOMAN (SITTING ON STEPS) I don't know about you, but this business stinks. Everybody's looking at us. Why don't they look someplace else?

MAN (SITTING ON STEPS) Shut up. WOMAN Why's everybody looking at us like that? MAN Because we stink, OK? WOMAN Do I? Do I stink? MAN Like a fish you stink. You smell like a stale fish and I smell like a fart in a box. Got that? Now you know. WOMAN If I stink so much then get away from me. MAN Sure thing. I'm going inside to look up a word.

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WOMAN What word? MAN (THINKING QUICKLY) Juggernaut. WOMAN What the hell kind of word is that? MAN (RISING FROM STEPS) I dunno. I just thought I heard myself say it. That's why I'm looking it up. WOMAN Go ahead. Go ahead and look up your word. When you come back maybe I won't be here. MAN (FISHING AROUND IN HIS POCKETS. PULLS OUT A SCRAP OF PAPER AND A PENCIL.) So what? You better believe I'm looking up that word without you being here, or with. WOMAN And maybe I should look up a word too, huh? I see what you're up to...uh huh...you think you've got one up on me and the rest of us, but I understand it all too well. I've got my own little word to look up. MAN They'll kick you out. You stink too much. The guards have stink-o-meters and they aim them at you like guns. If the meter reads over 50 units of stink

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they make you go back out on the steps for the cold wind to turn you red and blow the stink off you. WOMAN (RISING FROM STEPS) Hey, they won't kick me out. If they try to I'll spit in my palm like my grandmother used to do and her grandmother before her from the old country. I'll spit in my palm and their dicks'll fall off. MAN Ha ha. Right. You almost made me forget my word. WOMAN You just wait till I look up the word I'm going to be looking up. (THEY GO INSIDE.) *** YOUNG MAN (TO LAUGHING OLD MAN) And stay over there! Stay over there until the food truck comes! And when it comes with coffee and sandwiches. When it's out there I don't want you standing in front of me or behind me in line! Got that? No standing near me. Understand? MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Food truck don't come today, stud. YOUNG MAN Yes it does.

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MAN IN LIGHT JACKET No it don't. You got to beg for your little piece of hot dog today. (OLD MAN CONTINUES TO LAUGH). *** MAN IN TOP HAT Where do the pigeons go when it's cold? They go up there where the hot air rises up the front of the library. You hear 'em at night. Them and the winter birds cheeping and peeping and cooing like it was summer. MAN WITH WITHERED HAND I hear you talking.

MAN IN TOP HAT One night I stayed out so late on a cold night. The kind of night makes the insides of your nostrils burn like a lit match been hammered up each one. I was trying to keep warm. I was jumping up and down. Then I went for a walk by the lake. I don't know why I did it. I walked way out to where they tie the boats and I heard the ice groaning and cracking and big long cracks shot off and tore off across the ice like big guns firing. Then the lake started screaming with lips of ice, and I heard God talking, telling the lake to keep quiet, and not get too riled because the good days were coming. But the lake kept screaming, looking up at the cold sky with one big old round black eye. The lake don't believe in good days. It kept saying to God there weren't any of those good warm days left and none were coming. But God wasn't there anymore, just this big round laughing hole in the sky and the lake, she started howling and screaming and groaning and moaning.

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MAN WITH WITHERED HAND So what you do? MAN IN TOP HAT I found a grate with warm air coming up and that's where I parked my ass till morning! MAN WITH WITHERED HAND I know which one you're talking of.

MAN IN TOP HAT Like an old bird on a chimney. I just preened myself in that warm cloud!

MAN WITH WITHERED HAND Birds fall in them chimneys sometimes. MAN IN TOP HAT You and me got to take them chances. MAN WITH WITHERED HAND I hear you talking.

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MAN IN TOP HAT Mmmmm Hmmmm. *** YOUNG MAN (TO LAUGHING OLD MAN) Get out of my face. You--I can see it in your eyes you fucking old bastard. I once took a knife and cut a man's throat just because he was looking at me like that, so you'd better save your dirty ass and walk over there like a good old man and stand over there till you freeze the snot on the end of your nose and get out of my face! Now! (OLD MAN CONTINUES TO LAUGH.) *** MALE VOICE (VOICE OVER) Five... Four... Three... Two... MAN Look what I just found. A lottery ticket in the bushes. WOMAN (SITTING ON STEPS) You split it with me? I'm your partner.

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MAN I know that. But suppose I scratch the gunk off and I win. What if I win big? What are you gonna do for me? WOMAN We'll get a little place. I can do dishes. I'll sweep your floor and sew a little if we have thread. I know how to sew a little. MAN Ho ho. We'll get some shorties. Buy out the goodie store. Drink them goodies up, and then the old pipes'll unfreeze. Then I'll give you another job. We'll lay pipe all night. WOMAN Oh sure. (BEAT) And what if it's nothing? MAN Don't worry. It'll be something. This ticket wasn't laying in the bushes for nothing. There's destiny afoot. WOMAN C'mon and scratch it.

MAN Uh uh. I'm gonna keep it a little right here in my pocket. You think over what you're gonna do for me. Maybe you do it for me first, around back...you know under the stairs where it's dark. Then maybe I'll scratch it off for the dough.

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WOMAN Maybe I will. MAN I saw you looking up your word over there around Charlie. I seen you bending over over there. What's he gonna do--buy you a burger king and then you blow him? WOMAN Don't you get mad at me, Mr. You're the one said I stink. MAN So what? I've had a million like you. More than a million. And when I scratch this ticket you'll see how popular I can be.

WOMAN Kiss my ass thats what you are. MAN So what? You can't get me mad at you. (3 BEATS.) Wait till I think about it. Maybe I'll get even with you later and maybe not. Maybe Charlie'll wake up grinning below his chin tonight when he's sleeping it off at the shelter. You don't know who you're dealing with here. Nobody knows. WOMAN Little dick. Youd steal a rats asshole when nobodys looking, that's what youd do.

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MAN See? I'm turning my back on you. I won't lower myself down to where the piggies squeal. And anyway, I found this lottery ticket, so you better be careful what you say, because I could hire somebody to rub you out like that. (SNAPS FINGERS.) And I wouldn't have to get my hands dirty and nobody...nobody would know. WOMAN O.K. Me and Charlie's over with. That was a sudden fling, you understand? MAN I'll try to. (WOMAN SEARCHES IN POCKET) WOMAN Now here's a penny. Let's scratch. MAN Let's just let it age a bit. We got all day here. Maybe before they let us in the shelter. You got the time to wait. No place to go. And I do too. ***

MAN IN LIGHT JACKET You?

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PASSERBY 7 Here's all I got. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Twenty-five cents? C'mon. I need a buck. A buck to get me home on the bus. That's all I got. PASSERBY 7 MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Another quarter? PASSERBY 7 Look. I like you, so lay off or I'm telling the cop over there. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Oh! I get you. You like me enough you don't want to see me in jail. PASSERBY 7 That's right. Bug off. MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Thank you, sir. PASSERBY 7 No problem. (WALKS AWAY.)

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(MAN IN LIGHT JACKET LAUGHS TO HIMSELF. SINGS TO A MADE-UP TUNE JINGLING THE COINS IN HIS POCKET.) MAN IN LIGHT JACKET Take me to a DEEEE-laaaaaah! Ta buy me an AUTO-MO-beeeeeeel! He says I got what yooooooou want, son But it don't run on GASSSS-Foh-Reeeeeeeal! It runs on this stuff in a bag... Ah hum Ah hum Ah hum...so let's make us a deal! (EXIT MAN IN LIGHT JACKET.) *** MALE VOICE (VOICE OVER) And we have lift-off. (ROAR OF ENGINES IN BACKGROUND AND APPLAUSE.) A perfect lift-off ladies and gentlemen!

REPORTER This is the instant I-Team with Charlie Judd reporting live from the steps of the City Library. This is the second part of our three part I-Series on the homeless in Milwaukee. (TO MAN WITH SHOPPING CART.) Sir, I'd like to ask you a question... MAN WITH SHOPPING CART O.K.

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REPORTER (CHECKING CARD) This is James. Right, James? MAN WITH SHOPPING CART Yes. REPORTER Now James has lived on the streets for how long? MAN WITH SHOPPING CART Five years. REPORTER Five years... *** YOUNG MAN What time is it? Anybody but this laughing fuck got the time? The lunch trucks supposed to have been here hours ago. This is Monday, am I right? Monday? Therefore the lunch truck should come, shouldnt it? Weve stood here now for hours and its starting to get dark, and were hungry, man, and this sonofabitch keeps laughing and Im gonna kill him if he dont quit. Shut up, will ya? PASSERBY 1. Marquettes not running the lunch wagon today.

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YOUNG MAN Let me guess...theyve got a vacation today. Passerby 1. One of those holy days cat lickers have. YOUNG MAN Holy day. You mean holiday, right?

PASSERBY 1. What I just said. *** MALE VOICE (VOICE OVER) We interrupt this program for a special report from A.B.C. News. (BLACK OUT. LIGHTS UP ON CHALLENGER.) (INSIDE THE CABIN OF THE CHALLENGER. SOUND OF A DEAFENING EXPLOSION. INSTRUMENT LIGHTS GO OUT.) SCOBIE Uh. Oh. MCAULIFFE My god, what's happening?

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SCOBIE (TURNING AROUND IN HIS SEAT AS HE TRIES TO WORK JOY STICK): Christa? Christa? MCAULIFFE We're falling! SCOBIE Mission Control? Mission Control? MCAULIFFE We're gonna die. SCOBIE Not yet. If I can stabilize this thing...bring her in flat. Pull up the nose...shit, shit.

MCAULIFFE What can I do? SCOBIE I dunno...The others? Knocked out, maybe... MCAULIFFE SCOBIE Let them wait. We've got to fight this, Christa. We can bring this nose up. If I could get this nose up just a bit...

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MCAULIFFE I want to see my husband and my little girl. I want to sit down at the table with them and ask them how they are. They must be watching this.

SCOBIE We've got some time. Try to get Mission Control. They might have some ideas. MCAULIFFE I thought this was an honor. I tried so hard all my life to do the best thing for everybody. I took all the tests. All those hard hurting tests. I really tried my best. And now...now that I'm here... now that I've achieved.....Now that reporters from all over the world know my name...now our--my--epitaph is Uh Oh? That's no fair! No fucking fair! This America. This hype. This dressing up in these million dollar suits so that I cannot touch myself or feel flesh against flesh. This being locked away and sealed up and packaged and replayed and probed and homogenized and carefully posed. Now I understand it all. Strapped in this seat, lured away from everything I ever knew and loved, and locked in with these....these...experts. (SCREAMING) FUCKING EXPERTS! SCOBIE Keep your head, Christa. We can lick this. We can walk away from this yet. Watch. We still have some power. I rock the joy stick and the nose responds. Is it my imagination or is the nose coming up? MCAULIFFE Don't you see? We were packaged for this. They told us lies.

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SCOBIE Ha! 27.4. The instruments are back on. There's still a chance. Hello? Mission Control? Mission Control? You try it, Christa. MCAULIFFE I wish someone would kiss me. I can't get out of this seat. Scobie, blow me a kiss. SCOBIE What? MCAULIFFE Blow me a kiss. (SCOBIE DOES.) SCOBIE Oh No!...We're tumbling! I'm afraid we're tumbling, Christa. We're tumbling! The joy stick is frozen! (A VOICE CRACKLES OVER THE RADIO. FIRST IT MUTTERS...BUZZES...CRACKS...FADESTHEN GROWS MORE CLEAR.) MCAULIFFE Ma...Ma...Mission Control?

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(THE DEAF GIANT WITH THE WHISTLE TAKES A MICROPHONE AND STANDS SO THE AUDIENCE SEES HIM "BECOME" THE VOICE.) VOICE You have fifteen seconds to go. You have no home. Soon you'll have no voice, no throat, no eyes, no hair, no brain... MCAULIFFE What? Tell me who this is! VOICE We made you. We marketed you. We are mourning you now. You are the brightest and the best we have to offer. All of you. But you are worth more to us as a name, a concept, a sacrifice, a brand, than as a living, breathing, aging individual. You are truly a wonderful teacher, Christa. You teach the necessary information to the young. All eyes are riveted upon your plunging space ship now. Boys and girls out there in greater television land. They are learning the relationship of the individual to the state. They are understanding that they are at the mercy of vast, impersonal forces. Yet they still wish to become like you, Christa. To dangle their young lives from gossamer threads to become heroes. Oh the glory of it, Christa! We love you, Christa. Children will pray for you when they should be praying for themselves. Cartoonists will draw the Challenger finding a berth in heaven when the earth will soon be a hell for you. The ocean will draw a curtain of secrecy around your final struggles, but the minds of the young will follow youthe young will see your sanitized, smiling image with large, luminous eyes. Totally innocent. Totally innocent. Goodbye Christa and god speed! MCAULIFFE Whoever you are your speech writer is a moron! A FUCKING MORON, do you hear?? Who is this!!!

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