solo act

Destanee Ulrich

[ audience stirs, hissing softly, silence insisted ] i sit before you with violin legs and piano key fingers, songs spill from notebooks sprawled on the floor; somewhere i wrote the lyrics to purity, humanity, equality how there was a world with women as queens and men as kings ruling side by side on thrones of unity. but their kingdoms were stories of their daughters (sisters, mothers, and lovers) and the pages promised success.

[ heads nod, eyes wander ] but the spines un-spiraled and the corners of papers burned, treating each girl the same means nodding one’s head in shame–

[ whispers trickle through the room ] and take your secrets, rip them apart. your dreams devastations i ache you to wash until your knuckles bleed; ‘cause we’re not monolithic : your daughters sisters mothers lovers nor do we want monolithic things, there’s just similarities overlapping that humanity blends together like art on the canvas we call bodies.

[ complete silence. speaker drops a pin. ] hear that? when no one speakers the world hears everything, but in the mouth of mundane beings nothings ever quite enough, you never hear each girl screaming. and if you ask me for a solution, i know you’re just taunting.

[ speaker stands ] the solution is your silent recognition, listen–hear the breathe of every women shaking, give her a chance as you would a man. and perhaps then you’ll hear the music she’s playing knowing the audience, emotion, feeling.