It was a Tuesday unlike others
I, dressed in charmeuse
color my lips
red
I, another woman
She’s brilliant,
wise but dynamic
she meets you on the
corner
brown eyes ecstatic
The light turns green, and
she starts walking
have you ever seen
a fat llama
dancing?
You laugh
she’s funny, but
wait.
Scene one, take
four
I’m just reading lines
it says to be funny.
Go,
The next one is yours
You’re from Missouri,
youngest of five
your father writes novels
your mother
loves art.
We pause for coffee
on the side of the street
specks of
pastel
fall from the trees
It’s my turn to
share
she waves goodbye,
you ask me questions–
family and
dreams
But twenty-one
years!
what words do I
use to share them with
you?
Scene two, take
one
I beg her to speak, but
only I, am
left,
alone on the stage.
A stream of words
pour,
Slowly
at first, but then
racing,
spilling,
pushing you out—
Our final scene together, on
a Tuesday like every
other.
— Lucy Zhu is a senior in Saybrook College.