This performance was performed originally on December 8, 2022 at Beyond Baroque Literary Center by Derek Denckla (spoken word and percussion) and Brenda Vaca (spoken word).
CHARACTERS: NARRATOR (NARRATOR)
and NARRATOR (RAVEN ONE TWO)
RAVEN ONE
RAVENS UNISON (THEN NARRATOR ALT LINES)
NARRATOR (NARRATOR) (SIZZLE BALL SHAKER)
It was trash day
—like any other trash day
It was morning
—like any other morning
I opened my door
and stepped outside.
Two RAVEN ONEs hopped about
on the path below me
their ebony feathers shimmer iridescent
sheen shifting as they jerk and flit
reflecting metallic rose and teal and lime
all slickly swirling with unseen oils
black eye black claw black beak
brushed monochrome tuft-to-talon
casting negative space silhouettes
against a tawny slab of sidewalk
(TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
RAVEN ONE
—We've been waiting
for you—
NARRATOR (NARRATOR)
The closer of the two birds cawed,
teetering tiptoe towards me
turning its head sideways to catch my eye.
As big as a red-tailed hawk,
this ordinary but enormous avian
advanced on me. Its size and speed
startling me as much as its sudden speech.
(TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
RAVEN ONE
—We wanted to show
you some things.
We have secrets
for you to see—
NARRATOR (NARRATOR) (SIZZLE BALL SHAKER)
I could not speak
What could I say?
I nodded mutely
inching a step forward.
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—For you to see—
NARRATOR (NARRATOR)
The RAVEN ONE clicked its pointed black tongue
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—I must take one of your eyes—.
NARRATOR (NARRATOR)
The other bird bowed its head.
(SIZZLE BALL SHAKER)
Ravens never spoke
to me in the past
so I assumed
that I had better obey.
Despite being a cautious sort,
I sat down on my porch steps,
lowering myself to a ground level
where the animals could more easily approach me.
The bigger one winked,
perhaps to reassure me in some way,
but then I worried, remembering
RAVEN ONEs are cast as tricksters in tall tales.
(SIZZLE BALL SHAKER)
I wondered if
I was making a mistake
too late because,
as I settled onto a step,
(RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
Dark wings spread before me,
blocking my view.
The sun disappeared and I
peered out from inside a bird's skull
RAVEN ONE (4 TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
We leapt into the air
beating upwards in a tight arc
to land on a transverse "T"
of a nearby telephone pole.
Below us, we watched,
as our neighbor threw away
carrot tops, tetrapaks, beer cans, and butter wax
an orchestra of dumping in unison
RAVENS UNISON (8 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
On trash day
crows were counting
on human error
to make our breakfast
NARRATOR (RAVEN TWO) (1-2 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
Some plastic bag or another would soon burst
stuffed to overflowing —leaking foul wet waste and dribbled debris
that would spread a dark sticky patch on the asphalt
guiding us to an edible residue—
gristle on a few chicken bones
dried cat food at the rim of a tin
that rolled to rest at curb's edge
half a hot dog bun crushed flat by a car tire
RAVENS UNISON (8 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
All of these spent offerings
—we would harvest from the street altar
combining each tidbit into a feast
—while fending off pickpocket grackels
NARRATOR (RAVEN TWO) (1-2 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
We swooped down silently
spooking a woman in a flowered robe
who was stooping
to steal our morsels
Luckily, she withdrew
startled, thinking —Whatever,
it all ends up in the sewer
and then into the sea, anyways.
RAVENS UNISON (8 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
We rejoiced at how unwelcome
—we are amongst humans
how no one delights in our visits
—as they do sparrows and hummingbirds.
—We bring ill omens
and obscure remembrances
plumage colored by night
adorning funeral processions
NARRATOR (RAVEN TWO) (1-2 RATTLE NUTSHAKER)
—We remind you— I thought as a raven would
—of all your mistakes and unfinished business
like black-eyed racoons, we force you to look
at all your garbage, by chasing after it.
Poe knew this well of us
He invoked our morose majesty
and thus quoth the truth
of regrets, of shame, of death.
RAVEN ONE (4 TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—When you fear us then
you fear yourselves
—We are the inky thumbprint
left behind by your nightmares
RAVENS UNISON (8 RATTLE NUT SHAKER)
—We are your akimbo elbow's
in grease-stained shirtsleeves
We are cawing out
all tomorrow's after parties
—We are flyers of the end
We finish what you began
We feed on dark matter and loss
Your face falls when look upon us
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—You see what you have done
and we mock you for doing it
—We crow and click and cackle
and there's nothing you can do about it
RAVENS UNISON (8 NUT SHAKER)
—Our existence is a greasy mirror
shoved between you and your self-image
so you toss stones at us, shoo us away,
call us ugly, but you made us in your image.
—We are too big, too loud, too black
to be ignored
We can't easily be put out of sight
We ruin your majestic vistas
NARRATOR (RAVEN ONE) (1-2 NUT SHAKER)
—Like the pigeon, we are a trash bird
urban prowlers that stain the clouds
with our filthy profiles
and our unbeautiful songs
—Soaring above your parks
we ruin your imagined nature
harassing the regal raptors
and terrorizing all the pretty little birds
RAVENS UNISON (8 NUT SHAKER)
—We haunt your trash bins
We pick open your food delivery bags
We scamper in your gardens stealing seeds
We heckle your picnics, circling cantakerous
—We feed on your violence
thrive on your vast indifference
dine on your heedless excesses
and Hector your boundless pride
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—We live among you
We form part of your anti-caravan
along with so many other stowaways
rat, cockroach, moth & mouse —ant and virus— all in house
—You hate us but you made us
the way we are — stalking your garbage
You are thankless
for our RAVEN ONEous services
RAVENS UNISON (8 NUT SHAKER)
—Picking up after you
Eating your shit
Giving us your worst
and we always coming back for more
—We do what you won't do
for yourself
We do what you can't do
without us
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—Isn't this some form of love?
We always return to you
despite your denial
of our interdependence, our co-evolution
—We keep coming back
despite your rough treatment
your public disparagements
and your poisons and traps
—Doesn't our eternal return to you
count for some kind of devotion?
Other lesser species simply expire
give up, go extinct. Not us. We stick with you—
NARRATOR (RAVEN TWO) (1-2 NUT SHAKER)
We RAVEN ONEs rose up and soared together
circling above a restaurant dumpster, fragrant and oozing
onto a parking lot tarmac on Sunset Boulevard and Douglas Street
we turned our heads to inspect the prospect
Mariachi music clanged out
from the open windows of a Ford F-150 truck
waiting at the stoplight, revving
its angry engine on fire, burning the World.
RAVEN ONE (TAP & SCRAPE GUIRO)
—You think our noises are ugly?
You never shut up. All day and all night long you roar
hurtling along your freeways, how you thunder
howling helicopter chop, shredding the silent night—
NARRATOR (NARRATOR) (SHAKE THUNDER TUBE + DIDGERIDOO)
The lip of the leaky dumpster
was ajar just enough to snoop inside.
So we swooped downward
and slipped under the cracked black plastic lid
All went damp and dark again
within that filthy iron-walled hutch
blocking out that California sunshine
and loudly echoing car thrum and rumble
And then I was in my human body again
inside this Ark of Goodbyes, this Portal to Away
swaddled in putrid piles of loss, cast offs and spent things
trapped within a steel coffin hiding the remains of the once-living
I sit in what we've made
—what the ravens made me see
and I am numbed bewildered
— I cannot make out what is happening
But I can hear the ravens outside
claws scratching at the cracked lid of the bin
I cannot fight, fly or fawn — so I freeze
so I listen to their croaking calls
(SHAKE THUNDER TUBE + DIDGERIDOO)
RAVEN ONE
—This is your World now
you made it ours as much
as you made it yours
and you must live in it now
Until it ends—
NARRATOR
Until it ends
UNISON
Until it ends
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