Tuesday, September 28, 2010

In passing

It's about a quarter to one in the morning. Quiet time. I hear a truck somewhere in the distance going in a southernly direction. It's gone now.

I've taken a couple of pain killers to help me sleep. While I'm waiting for them to kick in, we can chat for a little hour. I've missed you. At the moment you seem like an age ago, a world away.

The play I'm directing has taken over my life. RICHARD III. Shakespeare. This thing has colored my every waking thought for a month now, jealous for attention. I'm not only directing the play, I'm also producing it. Details. Everyone wants attention. Everyone wants.

I'm learning slowly that old Will was an interesting character. He uses words that don't fit easily in the modern mouth. He makes up words. He's a terrible speller. But underneath all the posturing is subtext so beautiful it takes my breath away. Why anyone would feel the need to change this - to have ego so vaulted that thinking alterations would improve even a tiny jot ... I don't see it. I really don't.

I noticed last night that it's getting darker earlier. Evenings are cooler. Right now the weather is perfect - warm during the day and cool at night. I love to take walks at one or two in the morning. Think time. My neighborhood looks different. Even the houses slumber. I will hear a cat or two, they seem to enjoy the darkness as well. There is one who has taken the fancy to sleep in my basement window well during the day. I suspect that, like me, she is drawn to wander under the thick blanket of stars.

I miss living out west. Arizona, New Mexico, parts of California - the sky is so much larger there. You can stretch out a hand and lightly brush a thousand touches of light. I have several friends who live in New York. One in particular wants me to move there. Sometimes I wonder if she's aware that there is a sky?

Okay. Better now - dozier. Funny. I never in my life was drawn to pills of any kind and for any reason. But of late I I've been taking pain killers. They kill pain. All kinds.

G'night. Thanks for hangin' with me.


j  

3 comments:

Views from Malmesbury said...

Thank you for sharing this, I felt almost as though I was wandering the streets with you, feeling the peace. I hope the pain eases and tomorrow is a better day for you.

Anonymous said...

I wonder on rainy days if numbing pain is good or bad. I wonder at the many ways available that are socially acceptable.
Lately I find myself thinking of absinthe and absentia.
I need a vacation.
Arizona, Texas New Mexico sound great; but I would somedays take a bottle and a cheap room far from the chronic wailing of the city and the people who search but never find.

Alexx

Jack Petersen said...

Rather than mislead you, i've learned that pain is not always a bad thing - it reminds me that I'm alive. Much worse are those times when I feel nothing at all.