GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM
by Su Friedrich
copyright 1981
In the following text, the spaces between words or phrases approximate the rhythm with which the text appears on the screen.
The lines indicate breaks between the dreams.
If you intend to reproduce this text in part or in full, please maintain the spacing and punctuation as shown.
_________________________
Wander through large quiet rooms
An old friend says What
are you doing here?
I say The weavers
worked as slaves to make these rugs
Think
She shouts Why
do you come here
and SPOIL everything?
This is pure civilization!
____________
Walk into church
My mother trembles
trances
reciting a prayer about orgasm
I start to weep
____________
In the water near a raft
I see a woman
swimming and diving
in a wet suit
see her pubic hair
____________
A woman sits on a stage
hunched over in the corner
She calls up a friend from
the audience
asking her Come and make love to me
She does
I can't watch
_____________
She mutters I CAN'T
can't hold you
The last time was too
tense So many
memories
____________
Woman on the bed shivers
I wake her
She is angry
Smears spermicidal jelly
on my lips
NO!
____________
Walk into church
A bloody furry arm is torn
from the body of an
animal
Did it rip its own arm off?
____________
I make a second
vagina
beside my first one
I look in surprise
Which
is the original?
___________
Building a model house for
some man
Do it
without getting paid
Do it
wrong
____________
I draw a man
take his skin
inflate it
get excited
mount it
____________
It's like being in love with
a straight woman
____________
I lie in a gutter
giving birth to myself
two fetuses dark green and
knotted up
Try to breathe so they don't
suffocate
I can pull one out
but it starts to crumble up
_____________
Five women sing in acapella
funny harmony
they spell the word truth
in German
I spell B L I N D N E S S
A man says
Their Song Is A Very Clever Pun
I say I can't agree
I don't know German
____________
A leopard
A LEOPARD EATS TWO BLUE
two blue hummingbirds
humming
I feel the feathers
MY TONGUE
fl utter on my
BONES mutter HEARTS utter FEATHERS
humming on my tongue