Jenny Midnight’s Elegy
When I was a girl
I fell down
I looked out the window
And saw the lake there
I saw the rain
When I was a child
I wept, I crept, I slipped
Everywhere I look I see people
staring at me. I try to
hide. The boulders are too
big in Montana, but there
is a voice that tells me
to go to sleep — nothing
is right. When I was a
boy my mother told me. Now
I just keep quiet.
When I was on fire
I lay down
I looked out the flames
And saw the haze there.
I saw the rain
When I was a twirl
I spun, I spun, I spun.
When I was a toy
my father spun me
around. I try to lie.
The boulders are too
big in Alabama, but there
is a force that makes me
slow to reach — nothing
fits right. When I was a girl
my father’d hold me. Now
I just keep quiet.
Frame’s Analysis
In reply, the psychoanalyst Boris Frame (BF) gets up from his chair and walks toward Jenny Midnight, coming into the light spotting her, which slowly widens to include them both:
The world has no conclusions
Jenny
I can no more face your pain
Than play music I never learned
Hard to listen, harder to turn
A fate into a charm
Our thoughts undo
The first as tragedy
The second as dew
The cry I hear is not the one you say
But another hidden deep away
(Don’t fear the cry that
Hides so deep away)
This swirl has no conclusions
For all its protrusions,
Contusions, delusions, and shame
So many masks that cast a pall
Upon those singular calms
You cannot recall
That jag you as toy or top
Unwanted friend, untwisted bend, unfinished end
Thrown back to your unchosen fund
That lulls you at edge of come
Unrighted wrong, unspoken song, untouched too long
This will come to end, Jenny Midnight:
If you bear through the drama
To where seam breaks seam
And split the tide
Became you to become the thing
You dream
But not tonight, Jenny Midnight
Not tonight
Don’t fade into alarm
Or call the ghosts
Against the swarm
Not tonight Jenny Midnight
Not tonight
(JM and BF side by side):
JM:
Then try to learn this music
Listen to what I can’t say
Teach me music I never played
BF:
Hard to listen, harder to turn
A fate into a charm
JM:
A fate into a charm
Together:
Our thoughts undo
The first as tragedy
The second as dew
BF:
The cry I hear is not the one you say
But another hidden deep away
Together:
Don’t fear the cry that hides so deep away.
This swirl has no conclusions
For all its protrusions
Contusions, delusions, and shame
BF:
This will come to end —
Jenny Midnight
Having torn through the harder
To where dream fakes dream
And knit the slide —
Don’t blame, no shame, make your mark
It’s just not right
Just hold on tight
Not tonight, Jenny Midnight
Not tonight
JM:
When I was a top
I spun down
I looked in the mirror
And saw my hate there
I saw the pain
When I was a lock
I came, I came, I came
Everywhere I look I see people
caring for me. I have my
pride. Your shoulders are too
big for my enclosures, but there
is a choice that won’t let me
glow in heat. Turn on
the lights, Dr. Frame,
turn on the lights!
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