I so need to be sleeping right now, but I made the mistake of reworking the ending of the show and emailing it to everyone. Why was this a mistake? Because I love the new ending. And the old one is fine, but now by contrast... well, I'm not going to be as content to do it as I was when I didn't have an alternative in mind.

sigh. this whole collaborative process thing is overrated. OK, off to think positive thoughts about everyone loving the new alternative ending. and try to sleep. more tomorrow, maybe.

should I post the options here? sure, why not. I'm unconvinced anyone aside from my father is reading this anyway. Hi Dad.

so of course, you know nothing of what comes before this, nor do you know who'll be saying what. which may or may not matter. in any case:

option 1:

Because the promise of America is unfulfilled
Until it is realized we will
not accept silence
must not get weak
It is an act of revolution to speak.

Involvement is as necessary as breathing

And I cannot write a poem to tell you to breathe.
Not if I tried to.
Let someone else tell you how to live
I’ll tell you why to.
I’ll talk with passion about beauty and love
But there is a limit to the things I’ll speak of
no matter how important
What will never get written
What you will not catch me
ever on the street corner spittin
What I am taking for granted like air in my throat
Like you just know to breathe is how you just know to vote
and I will not / write a poem / to say
breathe.

option 2:

Because the promise of America is unfulfilled
Until it is realized we will
not accept silence
must not get weak
It is an act of revolution to speak.

voting is as necessary as breathing.

listen: we are power. we are the sweet
and beating heart of a nation built on a flawed love poem to freedom

we are a tulip growing in the splash of a storm drain
we are sunlight refracted through a beer bottle
we are beautiful

we are boycott and passage and insurrection and congregation
we are the movement behind the leaders

our very existence is poetic
our actions outlive our flesh
we are immortal

we are kinetic energy,
the potential for change pulsing
in your wrists where you sit and when you touch
the stranger, the lover, the friend to your left, realize
we are electric. we are current. we are fire
ready to rise.

***

thoughts, ideas, comments welcome as always...