Carol of Words, Part One

(Stage notes from a theatrical reading of Walt Whitman's Carol of Words):

The house lights dim and the theater becomes dark.  The curtains are still drawn on the stage. Two performers, one masculine, the other feminine, walk onto the stage from opposite directions.   Dressed in street clothes, they stand in front of the curtains, each carrying a few sheets of paper.  

"Earth," the masculine one announces, reading from the paper,  "Round, rolling, compact."  Each word is carefully annunciated so that every consonant can be heard.  A brief moment of silence is allowed between each word.  The sound of the word is more important than its meaning.  "Suns, moons, animals," he continues, "All these are words to be said."

"Watery, vegetable, sauroid advances," the feminine performer announces in a similar tone.  "Beings, premonitions, lispings of the future.  Behold! These are vast words to be said." Emphasis is put on the word "vast."

In a more natural, conversational tone, the first performed asks the audience, "Were you thinking that those were the words - those upright lines? Those curves, angles, dots?"

"No," the second performer replies in an almost laughing tone, "Those are not the words." She explains, "The substantial words are in the ground and sea. They are in the air.  They are in you." The emphasis is on the word "you."

"Were you thinking that those were the words," asks the first performer.  "Those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths?"

"No," answers performer two, "The real words are more delicious than they."

"Human bodies are words, myriads of words," says the first performer.  "In the best poems, re-appears the body, man's or woman's, well-shaped, natural, gay.  Every part able, active, receptive, without shame or the need of shame."

"Air, soil, water, fire," the second performer intones.  "These are words.  I myself am a word with them.  My qualities interpenetrate with theirs .  My name is nothing to them."

"Though it were told in the three thousand languages," asks the first performer, "What would air, soil, water, fire know of my name?"

"A healthy presence, a friendly or commanding gesture, are words, sayings, meanings," replies the second.  "The charms that go with the mere looks of some men and women are sayings and meanings also."

The curtains part, revealing a small ensemble of musicians.  It matters not matter what form of ensemble is presented - it could be a small chamber ensemble of strings, it could be a jazz combo, it could be rock musicians with electric guitars.  In whatever genre is presented, two microphones are on stands in front of the ensemble.  The two performers retreat from the front of the stage and each stands behind one of the microphones.  They continue the performance as the musicians provide a quiet drone beneath their words.   

The second part of the performance has begun.