The Homelessness Play

The First Rehearsal
Exercise With and Without Words.

A play.
what about?
homelessness.
how will we do it?
we don't know.
but you get in
and you go to
a rehearsal.
the first
rehearsal.
And you do
an exercise
so the director knows
what you can do.
It begins
with directions:

At the back of the theater,
the pods,
no words exist
         Aloud,
         in Thought,
         in your Actions
none, blank.
You start there
In your turn, you leave
and go onstage
and, in your mind,
build your idea of home.
Then, in your turn,
you go back to the pods,
become blank again,
and end there.

The exercise begins.

There are no words
to convey, in words,
the utter lack of words,
but all at once,

You are out in the cold, with
         no words for blankets,
         for shoes on your feet,
         for clothes on your back,
         for food in your stomach,
         for feelings in your heart.
The well in the desert
         just ran dry,
the fire in the snowstorm
         just went out.
You aren’t there.
You are empty.
You simply
are.
No mothers arms
No father’s wisdom
No teacher’s guidance
No comforting sounds
No soothing music
Nothing.

Others begin to go up,
to leave the blankness,
to go home.
Home is where the heart is,
and you can’t go home,
not yet.
Parched, watch them drink.
Starving, watch them eat.
Alone in a snowstorm
         of blankness
         and white noise
you see the windows
to other people’s homes
and their warmth
but you sit in the cold
because you can’t go home.
No light
no sound
no home.

Your turn.
Walking away now.
The words come back.
The ugly green jealousy
is gone because
you’re home too.
Wrap in your blanket,
feel your warm clothes,
express yourself
to yourself
again.
Play your games
rest a heavy head
eat till you burst.
Love and family return
music returns
laughter returns
light returns
safety returns.
The Nothing
is gone.

And then it’s time to go again.
The warm silence
becomes cold silence
         empty
         and wordless
         after home.

And then it’s over.
We discuss it,
and get our schedules
and check technicalities,
but the pods will be
         empty
         and wordless
         and very there in a cold way
for a few months
‘til the show is over
and it’s words are gone
and we all
go
home.