Final Act
(across background)
Elvis-attired Andy Kaufman
Crowns Hulk Hogan
Folding chair concussing!
(Center-staged, foreground)
Man:
“Can’t afford my funeral
Nobody’s home
Life’s meaningless
Stop with Nostradamus!
Nobody’s coming
Lowman
To cardboard homes
Pozzo not-so Lucky
Words POOF…
polluting wind”
(He crumples script
Then takes out cell;
Texts girlfriend
Exits
Meets her at coffee shop
Offering
Forget-me-nots)
The prompt is courtesy of photographer Jacob Lucas. He is featured today on One Stop Poetry. Check it out. Please leave him a comment if you dig his work. (The interview was conducted by Chris Galford).
This entry was posted on March 6, 2011 at 12:02 am and is filed under Flash Fiction, One Shoot, One Stop Poetry with tags Blog, dustus, flash fiction, flash55, Jacob Lucus, One Shoot Sunday, One Stop Poetry, photograph, picture prompt challenge, poet, poetry online, Theatre of the Absurd. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Dustus Blog 
March 6, 2011 at 12:33 am
Wow, wow, wow!! [Insert a few gratuitous profanities here]
This is absolutely amazing, Adam. I love the idea of scripting the poem itself, stage directions and all. Such a piece of satirical wit, which strikes to the heart of modern passivity. The final line is priceless.
I so enjoyed this…has given a decided boost to my Sunday morning.
Alas, how will I ever come up with something to equal this…
March 6, 2011 at 12:38 am
Thank you, Kerry 🙂 Give the pic prompt a shot. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
March 6, 2011 at 12:48 am
i had to write my One Shoot before reading yours because everything you write is so amazing i’d never have the courage to write one, too. this is brilliant, Adam. i love the stage directions.
March 6, 2011 at 12:58 am
I just read yours, dani. Enjoyed it very much.
Amazing photo! Jacob Lucas is incredibly talented.
March 6, 2011 at 1:17 am
I wasn’t finished when you read mine. I added to it.
You are always so creative, I love reading your prompts.
March 6, 2011 at 1:21 am
Excellent work for the prompt. It weaves together in a sort of stage like tableau of the now with overtones of Fellini. Funnily enough I went a similar but more bizarre way with mine. Well done! Gay
March 6, 2011 at 2:09 am
Your work is very intense, Adam. (I like that.) The touch with the crumpled paper… then it hit me… stage directions? Radio play effects in the audio? Yaaa! (See, I’m actually at a loss for words.)
Had to read it again. And listen. I’m missing something. I’m hanging on something. What is it? I love the tension.
March 6, 2011 at 5:09 am
nice poem! makes the exchange of talk so wonderful
March 6, 2011 at 6:08 am
Fantastic and fun, Adam! The stage directions are a perfect touch! I love the man’s monologue! So campy!
March 6, 2011 at 7:05 am
ha, nicely played adam…love that you set it as a play…forget me nots…a nice closing touch…
March 6, 2011 at 7:31 am
Ok, just how much coffee did you drink before writing this! Good fun but the underlying meaning is a bit of a nudge too 🙂 Exit stage left…
March 6, 2011 at 7:40 am
this was a very inviting prompt…yours was “well staged “…sorry
I went from the audience view
Peace, hp
arghhh…twice I responded and it did not show…
March 6, 2011 at 7:49 am
Concussing folding chair…classic. No wonder our brains get mushy with all the non sense on stage(that which is considered popular) while real world stuff does it’s act with no audience. Charlie Sheen?….bahhhhhh!
March 6, 2011 at 8:37 am
Characters are always slipping into every day life, while the every day folks try just as hard to slip on stage!
March 6, 2011 at 9:41 am
great write.the ending takes me back to the days of writing a piece,hating it,then needing the comfort of people outside my craft.
March 6, 2011 at 10:37 am
Love the stage directions and the Man.
The whole poem is so refreshing and riveting!
Fun!
March 6, 2011 at 10:57 am
What a excellent reading you provided for this poem…love the sound effects you included.
March 6, 2011 at 11:39 am
i love that you crumpled the paper in the audio – how cool is that…and i loved the forget-me-nots
March 6, 2011 at 11:57 am
Having seen the photo first, thought the title was brilliant, first and foremost, then, to take us through the absurdity to the coffee shop…from performance to realism in a harsh pull, yanking us out of the wormhole and planting us firmly back into what is. Each and every line, an image, perfectly detailed, moving easily from start to finish. We will certainly forget-you-NOT! 🙂
March 6, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Cracking me up with this one, adam. I’m thinking Pinter and Pinero would be proud.
March 6, 2011 at 1:53 pm
All the comments well-deserved, Adam. Unusual and creative approach to the prompt. I was particularly interested to hear how you would read it; the so matter-of-fact approach underscored the meaning.
March 6, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Nothing absured about it. Briliant. Take your applause!
March 6, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Great fun…love the “Stop with Nostradamus”…perfect end with the forget-me-nots…life is truly absurd…..bkm
PS: Thank so much for listening to my Podcast…thanks it means a lot…bkm
March 6, 2011 at 3:04 pm
This was great fun, Adam. That ending had me cracking up.
March 6, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Lovely – almost Dada(?) in its mixture of references and form.
March 6, 2011 at 5:16 pm
LOL, excellent, sensory-vivid work.
Am not a big Andy Kaufman fan – he was too bizarre, even for my way-out-there taste (relative to whom, one may ask – good question). =)
Still chuckling at this.
March 6, 2011 at 6:49 pm
Very entertaining post…the folding chair concussing line had me laughing for sure.
March 7, 2011 at 12:25 am
Darn near brilliant, Adam.
March 7, 2011 at 2:00 am
Really interesting!
…Can’t afford my funeral…
…Nobody’s home…
…Life’s meaningless…
…Stop with Nostradamus!
Got a laugh here!
March 7, 2011 at 2:28 am
Nice set up! spent time actually setting the scene…doing a little poetic blocking on the stage of words…look at me run with metaphor!! I like it Dustus…Nobody’s Coming…This week I spoke those two words many times…funny story surrounding, even more fun that the words popped up here.
peace brother man
March 7, 2011 at 10:44 am
I like the play format – interesting! I also enjoyed your reading (and the sound effects).
March 26, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Adam, I have unashamedly borrowed your style and used it in a poem of my own… I hope you don’t mind.
http://kerryoconnorpoems.blogspot.com/2011/03/fade-to-blue.html
March 26, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Don’t mind at all, Kerry. I’m flattered. Cheers