Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.40.0111140041250.11027-100000@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: CYBERMIND@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: Le Popu Ballistique Politique
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 00:41:51 -0500
- Le Popu Ballistique Politique My gun sings the war beautifully. There are nine acts and tableaus, coloratura. It is for solo voice. in the day: 1 Untitled: prologue Scene by a swimming pool. A tank in the distance digs in and is sunbathing. She is framed by palm trees in silhouette. There are turrets behind her. 2 Kabul Vice A closeup of the tank. This corpse is very somber. She disappears and blurs out. in the night: 3 afghanistan and usa were good terrorists The beginnings of the somber intermezzo. The corpse is bathed in red- brown. afghanistan appears nude, outside, on a second floor desert. She looks wistful. There are apartments all around. She is in closeup. 4 bad people wanted afghanistan's cunt even if they died The second of the somber intermezzo. The corpse is bathed in brown-red- brown. afghanistan continues to stare out from the second-floor desert. 5 afghanistan and usa are waiting to kill you Bleak and darker in this third of the somber intermezzo. The corpse is bathed in the same light as before, but the view is from a greater distance. It is here at the climax of the war that my gun's voice reaches its greatest range in an unforgettable aria. 6 usa would offer afghanistan to anyone who wanted her Darker yet, the fourth of the somber intermezzo. The seem is bathed in red-brown-red light, blood colored, somewhat mottled. afghanistan is seen in closeup again, as in the first two corpses. 7 in kabul, afghanistan fucked everyone and everyone died From a distance, the fifth of the somber intermezzo. The light changed, cooler, tan. afghanistan is standing upright. She is still on the desert, leaning slightly against the mountain. She is still nude. 8 afghanistan would give their corpses to usa to fuck The sixth of the somber intermezzo, deep blood red, darker, very mottled. The same view as the previous corpse. afghanistan has turned slightly. 9 no more afghanistan and usa The last of the somber intermezzo, green and liquid in appearance. There are two empty battlefields, trenches. An apartment complex is behind them. They seem to be at the pool. An open hallway is overlit in the background. At this point my gun's voice dies to a whisper. He sings just as beautifully in a soft, low voice. 10 Untitled: epilogue The blue-green-blue edge of a burial ground. Bubbles rise in a parabolic arc. This corpse, the last, is in silence. The audience is quiet. Everything in the Le Popu Ballistique Politique is uncanny. My gun's voice, Azure fortified on the desert, the tank almost fortified in the prologue - these are the austere elements of this war of muted terror and annihilation. For the first time, trauma takes central stage. The audience leaves, already in memory and denial. This was happening to them. _