U Make It Up As U Go Along
(Let's Call It Improvisation)
Like recipes and whatnot. I knew him
when he was my age.
A bit. His
middle name was B.
Was a made
up B (for filling in the blanks?).
Which is when Frankie says
what she really thinks to Grace:
“You get married.
The vows
say: in
sickness and in health.”
“In sickness and in health.”
Have you noticed how Jane
Fonda can twitch her face
in such fascinatingly subtle
ways that, well, most act
resses simply can’t. Which
means nothing, really.
Except maybe that she’s
even better than I thought.
At the craft, I mean, age
notwithstanding, but rel
evant, I’d say.
Does that
in effect also mean (better)
as a person? The power of
provocative fiction so sum
marily different than the
reality of your own, yet
so relatable, so relative to
something so you.
And so
very ME. Cut! Take! Try
it again. & use
that twitch.
Find even MORE empathy,
if that’s even possible. Re
gain control of a mad, mad
world (the one with the dis
tinct lack of comedy). Eat
it up. Weep
if you want.
Because it’s fiction. It’s
fake narrative (Sure. Ad
dressing real narrative.
The one you live, the one
you live with, the one you
try to digest but can barely
even dictate.).
And...scene!
Dispense the Kleenex. Grab
the script just in case you have
time to go over a few lines
before tomorrow morning
when the incessant twitch
ing starts all over again.