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Richard Foreman
Three Selections from the Notebooks

I.

This beginning to die. This lift of the hand to the face
This twist into the incomprehensible that lights us both--
call it a snapshot.





I doubt not, that in the repatore of gestures I've collected, one gesture superceeds all other gestures.
I will not show you the most important of my gestures. It is not my isolation which worries me.
Surrounded by people who cannot speak, who do not speak--
shall we say they do not speak my language? Grabbed by grace
Everybody does that. The food that enters the mouth echos the mind
Gabbing til my ears hurt
You hear the sound of your own voice again
Music
Music to my ears too
Let's agree to turn off the internal phonograph

How wonderful such a word begins with the letter "P"
(Pause)
Some days later-- it'll be a photograph
After the music has faded, yes.
Your yes is my no-stone
It must weight you down
Very down. Escape. Prove that you can escape. What I mean is prove that you are the greatest escape artist
Escape from what
Prove that you are the greatest escape artist. Right now, right here-- escape
There's nothing to escape from here
(Tie)
I can't escape



I bet you can escape
I bet you can't escape



II.

This darkness in me is a starting point. If I revolve on its pivot, I am suddenly surprised by myself. A life goes on, things change, but other things do not change.
A certain glue keeps firm hold on one or two revolving orbits.
Now I will have to give up what I know best about my own life but I say, no, I will not give that up
Guess what you gave up, sir
I didn't know you talked
I talk to myself, which means I don't have to move my lips
Is anything said
No
Ah. Then we are in the true condition of speaking
Did I find myself at the end of my rope?
I thought it was my rope
Let me allow for reading a book that, taking me outside of myself, re-enters the world. What's going to reveal itself in this moment?
I don't know
Something's going to break through
I don't know. I don't think you know me

III.

The balloon of ideas drops and envelopes his entire body
This is just-- opening a door
and somebody looks at him and smiles, and offers his hand.
Why?
This is a transfer of energy.
I don't have much faith in that here-- take my hand.
Don't leave without me
I'm going no place.
(Pause)
Do I have to wait for this to happen to me?
In that case-- it already has happened
Ah-- the question is-- what can I do with it
Yes. What can you do with it