Chantel
Langlinais
p o d n
eo ra ri ig
ple nge p ht
p y i e
as el nt ra
s low o ses
s red b can
pl w li v
int as nd ass
ered hes ed 2
h o e n
an ve ye ot
d r s h
(ing.)
hands sugar
coffee cups
amid orgasm of
sound
tourists
your gray hair
caught
in a cross
chain
around your
neck
the street
corner mime makes me twisted
shapes in blue and yellow
we walk down
bourbon streets oak alleys
on Saturday you
tell me
you
will die.
Exquisite and
complicated pictures
frame
perceptions opposite
of vision –
horned owls,
iris, and ibis
(saints in the
night
sky). Vision
becomes myself
in a mirror,
singing melancholy
to simplify
absolutes;
compartments of
shapes – detached – .
Blindness
alters I’s art and
crystalline
versions
quite the same
way. Focus
your eyes
on just
illusions – inconstant
seeing
decorating it. Figures
closed never
again see one-track
monographs
when you’ve
seen enough.
You show me
Barthes’
garment gape
to Aida
I
feel the bath and climb in his side
outside against
the railing
Gnostic urizen
makes no sense
but the brown
iris does
draw a jackal head
and
wash my hand in the sea
I almost love
you.
(rewrite of
a scene from Socrates’s Oedipus Rex)
The scene takes
place in modern day Los Angeles. CARMEN is being set up on a blind date. Her
friend KELLY is introducing her to this guy she met in her self-help group. His
name is EDDIE. The scene begins with CARMEN waiting for EDDIE to show up at the
restaurant.
CARMEN: (Talking on her cell phone) I don’t know
why I let you talk me into these things…No, he hasn’t, and if he doesn’t soon,
I’m leaving…I don’t give a shit what you think, I’m not going to be humiliated.
It’s bad enough I haven’t had a date in over a year and sitting here by myself
at a restaurant is not helping matters any…Fine. (Hangs up phone)
WAITER: Ma’am,
can I get you another glass of wine?
CARMEN: No, but
I think I’m ready for my check.
WAITER: Are you
sure I can’t bring you an appetizer or something?
CARMEN: Really,
just the check will be fine.
WAITER: I’ll
bring it right out.
[A man enters in a door located behind CARMEN. He
has two gauze pads over each of his eyes. He stumbles into the doorway and
proceeds to feel his way around the restaurant. He knocks into the back of
CARMEN’S chair.]
CARMEN: Why
don’t you watch where the hell you are going!
EDDIE: Oh, my
spirit groans for thee!
CARMEN: Oh God,
I didn’t realize…
EDDIE: No, you
are not as sick as I, dear one!
CARMEN: What
the hell are you saying?
EDDIE: How
shall I ask thee?
CARMEN: Ask thee what? Speak English.
EDDIE: I am
looking for someone. How shall I find her?
CARMEN: You
could start by telling me her name.
EDDIE: She
calls herself Carmen.
CARMEN: I’m
Carmen.
EDDIE: Carmen,
my heart is filled with lamentation.
CARMEN: Huh?
EDDIE: Might I
sit with you?
CARMEN: I’m
going to kill Kelly for this.
EDDIE: Oh pray,
do not speak of death!
CARMEN: It’s a
figure of speech…Eddie is it?
EDDIE: That is true. I have been given the name
Eddie. It is short for Oedipus.
CARMEN: Oedipus?
I’m on a date with a guy named Oedipus. I think I’m going to need another
drink after all. Waiter!
EDDIE: Ah yes, a drink. Some red wine bestowed
upon us from the great Bacchus.
CARMEN: Bacchus?
EDDIE: God of wine.
CARMEN: Of course. How did I not know that. So,
Eddie, what happened to you? Why were you so late?
EDDIE: Oh, how I wish I could blot it from my
mind! The shame! Woe is me and my country of Thebes!
CARMEN: Calm down, Eddie. This is Los
Angeles.
[At this
moment, a CHORUS enters, parading around the restaurant with staffs in hand.]
CARMEN: What the hell is going on here?
EDDIE: The agony! The torment I have seen!
CARMEN: Seen?
I don’t understand this.
EDDIE: Yes, in my youth when I had sight and
tried to free my country from their lamentations.
CARMEN: Okay, I have no earthly idea what you are
talking about…
EDDIE: It is not of the earth! It is of the gods
in the heavens!
CARMEN: Yeah, whatever you say. Look, I’m sure
it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. It’s not like you murdered
someone.
EDDIE: O God, the oracle has been seen by you as
well, has it?
CARMEN: Holy shit, I don’t believe this! I’m
getting out of here.
EDDIE: No, please! Do not leave me in this shame,
my dear friend! I did not know it was my father! I didn’t realize I was married
to my mother and that she lied to me!
[CARMEN is seen
running from the restaurant.]
WAITER: Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you needed two
glasses of wine. I’ll just take this one back.
EDDIE: No! Do not take them from me now!
WAITER: Bad night, huh?
EDDIE: Indeed. One cannot escape the fate of the
gods.
WAITER: Uh huh. Name’s Lee if you need anything
else.
EDDIE: No. Not unless you can offer me a life
without pain.
WAITER: I’ll be back with the bottle.
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Last updated: May 1, 2001.