a collaborative (Soma)tic by CAConrad and Brian Bauman
A MacDowell Colony Experiment
A MacDowell Colony Experiment
DAY ONE: Walk the
dirt road to Handlebar Tree. The top of
an infant tree was consumed one night by the larger hungry father tree, bending
the little body inside his larger trunk, making a handlebar of the infant. The infant strangled the father’s heart and
spleen, killing them both. The suffering
of Handlebar Tree is apparent when passing their tragic, dried husks of depravity
and revenge along the road. Grab
Handlebar Tree’s handlebar, pressing your forehead into the bark. Stay there with your eyes closed for a few
minutes, then scream, “EEEEEEEEEE!
AHHHHHHHH! OOOOOOOOOOOO! VREEEEEEEEEEEEN! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” There is a small pile of red glitter at the
base of Handlebar Tree, dig into the soil beneath it and you will find a
cigarette and matches in a small plastic wrapper. Smoke two puffs of the cigarette, put it back
in the wrapper with the matches, bury it again, and sprinkle a little red
glitter and powdered dirt in your hair. Then
hold onto the handlebar of Handlebar Tree again, and bang your head five times
into the bark, then RUN back to your studio and sit at your keyboard with feet
flat, with screen darkened so you cannot see what you’re typing, but type as
fast as you can with eyes closed for at least fifteen to thirty minutes. Print out the notes and carry them with you
for clues to the poem/play/story.
DAY TWO: Visit handlebar tree and tell it one
secret and one lie. Hold onto the handle bar and listen to everything in the
world for one minute.scrape some of the bark/skin from the handlebar and carry
it with you to your studio. Fill a sink basin with cool water until it is full.
Dunk your head in the water and spit out the lie and the secret. Shake your
head yes three times and no twice. Run to your writing desk and write for at
least fifteen minutes.
