solo: Worth five minutes of your time

"So you are here, and I am here, spending our time

as we must, it must be spent. I am trying not to

spend this time, as I spend most of my time, trying to

get you to like me; trying to control your thoughts, to

use my voodoo at the speed of light, the speed of

sound, the speed of thought, trying to convince you

that your two hours with me are not going to be

resented afterwards.

It is an ancient pattern of time usage for me, and

I’m trying to move deeper, hoping to be helpful. This

pattern of time usage paints over an ancient

wound, and paints it with bright colours. It’s a sleight

of hand, a distraction, so to attempt to change the

pattern let me expose the wound. I now step into

this area blindly, I do not know what the wound is, I

do know that it is old. I do know that it is a hole in my

being. I do know it is tender. I do believe that it is

unknowable, or at least unable to be articulable.

I do believe you have a wound too. I do believe it is

both specific to you and common to everyone. I do

believe it is the thing about you that must be hidden

and protected, it is the thing that must be tap

danced over five shows a day, it is the thing that

won’t be interesting to other people if revealed. It is

the thing that makes you weak and pathetic. It is

the thing that truly, truly, truly makes loving you

impossible. It is your secret, even from yourself. But it

is the thing that wants to live.

It is the thing from which your art, your painting, your

dance, your composition, your philosophical

treatise, your screenplay is born ...

The world is very scary now. It always has been. But

something grotesque and specific to our time is

blanketing us. We need to see that it is not reality; it

is a choice we are making or allowing other people

to make for us."

Read the full speech:

solo