-------------------------------------------------------------------- two sequences from _s i l e n c e a n d l i c e n s e_ by w i l l i a m l. f o x ------------------------------------------------------------------- EDGE I. 10:05 p.m. cover your left eye with your open left hand/ open your other hand/ with both eyes shut/ what you see in your left hand/ will be out aside by your right/ and will cover your tracks. 10:10 p.m. pick a room and stand in front of the window/lights off behind your back for now/ both eyes open/ palms on the glass/ lean out/ caught in the glass/ your face the night and behind you/ the open right hand/ the closed eyes. 10:11 p.m. open your eyes/ open the window/ close your hands/ outside the wind and inside the light/behind you/ your left eye blinks in the wind/ your right eye steady to the light/ your hands cover and uncover each other/ your eyes and the tracks. II. 8:54 p.m. on the beach waves to the right/ the cliff to the left/ your arms held out east and west/ a light rises and falls out to sea/ raise up and lower your arms twice/ and then twice more/ the light sinks/ the cliff dark. 8:54 p.m. on deck you face/ the shore as it rises then falls/ the light around you rises and falls/ the headlands are dark/ the stars rise and fall/ your arms lift up and fall/ the next wave goes to shore with/ the light behind it. 8:54 p.m. walk to the edge of the cliff/ the waves far apart in star light/ a boat rises then falls in be tween the waves/ the man waves from shore at you with one arm/ at the boat with the other/ rising and falling away/ the edge of the cliff behind you/ the sea rising up in you/ the boat and its light. III. 7:20 p.m. dusk/ and you must go walk across the lawn/ into the trees/ and across the field/ more trees/ and then off to one side a boy and girl/ the sky and their skin turn first one color then an other/ the light falls/ you turn away home/ the lovers rise and fall/ and rise. 7:20 p.m. across the field the boy and girl/ rise and fall before the trees/ and on the far side yet another man watches in silence/ his head rises and falls/ from the lovers to the sky/ from light to the light/ before he turns to go/ your tracks and hands crossing and uncrossing. 7:21 p.m. everyone must leave now/ and go home before the light too has gone/ the men go left and right/ the boy and girl go left and right/ the trees go into night/ the field rises and falls with a heavy dew/ and still some one comes looking/ left and right and chooses one. IV 10:12 p.m. so he comes and goes/ behind your eyes/ the hands open and close/ the tracks cross left and right from field to sea/ the window open and you can hear the sea rise and fall/ his footsteps rise and fall behind you/ the arms raise and come down/ the lights gone out to sea. ------------------------------------ A FILM to tell a story : to knot up a line with : story to tie up the : means into an end : to lie to begin with any : one thing is a missed take : out from an : other story to begin with a mis : take and tie it : up into another : lie is a story to knot up : and to put down on : the line a story : is to lie down all : along to tell a story : to line up your mistakes : to end up all : along and mean it : you : start out not knowing it : is a story : you : walk what you : mistake for a line : you : take this other : hand and think two of you : are on a line that points : some : where this is not the point : writing it down : is not the line : your out takes : are not the : line you don't know : this story some where along the way : you let go in : order to : be to gether : you : get the point but : not the line you have to : hand it to your : self : this is a line : you can grasp : one which starts here and : ends : here the line is : the grasp is : the mistake is : the end is : the meaning is : the story is : you : are free to : begin if you : see : black and white the : words : you have only seen the : story if on : the other hand it : appears gray : you : have read : the story this out : growth of the end : point a line thrown back to : justify : that a point might be more : moments than once ------------------------------------------------------------ from SILENCE AND LICENSE Light and Dust Books Copyright (C) 1994 by william l. fox ------------------------------------------------------------