semantikon feature literature
Oct. 2003
Aralee Strange
works

AUDIO
 
biography

Strange is a poet/playwright whose body of work includes Etta Stone: A Film for Radio (1990) which she wrote, produced and edited and was aired nationally on NPR stations including WGBH's Arts & Ideas series. Other work includes dr. pain on main, a play commissioned/produced by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in 1991 and commissioned/produced again by the 2005 Cincinnati Fringe Festival; The Chronicles of Plague (1992), commissioned/produced by Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati; and An Evening at the Sad Café (1995). Strange also wrote, directed and edited This Train a feature film she worked on from 1996-2001. Awards and fellowships include the MacDowell Colony, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund and the Ohio Arts Council.
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keywords
aralee starnge, this train, cut up poems, poet, playwright, radio producer, performance artist, cincinnati ohio, kentucky, alabama, audio
dr. pain’s main street remedy
listen to performance of this work
 


ring ring
answer the phone
phone’s dead
answer the door
there’s no one there again
and no one comes in
grabs a chair and starts talking

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants to know the truth
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants to see the light
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants to feel the spirit move you
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants to know why
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one’s lonely
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one’s afraid of the devil
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one’s afraid of god
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one watches tv
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one has a job and a gun
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxand a bicycle no one rides up & down
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthe one way dead end street

and down below the old crone cries lost homes!
and squats and pisses on the power company plate
hot patina making piss of an old crone

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one thinks there’s something here
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxdrives men to drink & women mad &
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxdogs mad & children bad & rent up
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx& guess what rhymes with need
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants to eat the rich

so how come no one’s come here tonight?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxno one wants my advice

say you hanging out on Gabriel’s Corner
say you waiting for the horn to blow
say you waiting for the bus to come
say you wait a long time
and your mind is fried
and your feet hurt
and it’s early
and you’re late
and you got another 12 hour day to do in 8
on no sleep because a beat to shit chevrolet
parked down on the street won’t won’t won’t
start every morning at day break


but if you could go as the crow flies
straight to the heart of the horn of Gabriel
you could see yonder stands a band
playing Amazing Grace
& all the little black lambs of god
playing at the gate of the Truth
Temple of Deliverance

and you could see the river
and you could see Kentucky
and you could dream green bluegrass forever
and you would feel better

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:unplug your tv
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:ride your bike to the river
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:drop your gun in deep water
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:sing a song

turn your radio on