Sunday, September 6, 2015

poem || Lawrence Upton

Poem for poet voice(s) and dancer – your existence is extremely unlikely
             
[Performance. Much is left to the performers. It is scored for two speakers but if necessary they may be combined as one voice.]

Voice 1: Your existence is extremely unlikely.
The dancer makes a disjunctive series of wild hand gestures. Their facial expression does not match the gestures. Gestures and expressions do not exchange at the same moment.
Voice 1: Behaviour is hard to witness objectively and harder still to interpret.
Something of a mad dance.
Voice 2: If it's cancer; and if it gets worse, then I shall die.
Dancer, standing straight upright, takes a step or two forward, and then dives over an imaginary line at the height of their belly; and, reaching the ground, rolls and ascends until they are standing straight again. Then they take a step or two backwards.
Voice 1: It's a new magician's trick.
Dancer flaps their arms as if hoping to fly, rising on their toes, wobbling, perhaps staggering forward.
Voice 2: Everyone experienced the placebo effect.
Voice 1: Very few animals have been reported to throw things at one another.
Dancer picks up invisible objects and throws them at invisible moving targets.
Voice 2: In the near future, you may have to share the road with a robot.
'Robot' dance.
Voice 1: Feel limited.
Dancer seemingly has no room for movement; but still they dance somewhat.
Voice 2: Human skill has always been part of a process.
Animated dancer, lightly touching the surface of the performance area as if, perhaps, water and they a temporarily alighting insect, legs spread at an acute angle so as not to sink.
Voice 1: There might be merits to keeping things simple.
Dancer walks about with a minimal show of visible effort. Et cetera.

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