Sub-letter
Dear reader,
I sat down at a café the other day. I like to do this in my free time, either to read or to write. It gets my brain juices flowing.
Sometimes you have to get out of your house, you know?
Unfortunately, this week, I had forgotten to take any form of reading or notebooks with me, but I did have one thing:
My trusty fountain pen.
I took a few napkins from the dispenser and got to work.
Here’s what I produced:
I love this sort of ephemera: details from a life lived.
Scraps of notes hidden here and there.
For me, these two notes reflect what I’ve been thinking about recently.
On the right, I detailed my ideas about absurdism in musical theatre.
What examples of absurdist theatre could we use to analyze possible current or future absurdist pieces of musical theatre?
What musicals might use absurdism currently?
How would an absurdist piece use Bertolt Brecht’s alienation effects?
And what happens when human existence lacks meaning and communication breaks down (the true heart of absurdism)?
While, on the left, I wrote a free-verse “poem.”
I actually do this quite often, in my own solitude. But here I’ll detail what I wrote:
“See me
My hand stretched across a daylight moon
Reflecting off a mirrorless sky.
I am unseen.
And who would notice if I died?
My lack of purpose burning,
My answer yet to come.
The world around me turning,
The world’s response: none.
But somewhere deep within me,
A voice that cries out loud and long,
A voice unheard by many,
The words are long but gone.
So, cheer me, the crowd of dozens,
Equally lost to time.
A solitary job, no meaning.
My heart,
[]
[]”
Dear reader, what does this make you feel?
I wonder if this is an example of “free association.”
Until next time,
Ryan Rappaport
One response to “A Sub-letter”
Thanks!