Naked Statues

When at school, I have this thing that I do. I try to pull or group things together, to make a connection with my other classes. So in this CRTW300 class, while reading Harryette Mullen’s, Sleeping with the Dictionary, when I got to her piece called Naked Statues. This piece really captured my attention. All these words and phrases were things that I recognized, even if they were updated or slashed or pieced together. It was existing text recycle, reused to make something new. As I said in the beginning, it was interesting to find connections, to see theatre in Naked statue, when I am taking a theatre class this semester is an odd and interesting, it shows that everything that we are taught mold our way of thinking. To make sense out of, I guess of the non sense. Here is the poem by Harryette Mullen, Naked Statue and my interpretation of it. 

Oscars for the war of noses. With a mummy out of Egypt, a prosthetic muppet. Opening shot: cliché of travel genre. In several scenes, a woman put together in black, white or khaki. A woman with her back up like his map of mountain. Finally, she dies. Then, at, he dies. So romantic are the patient English. This all went on when I was making up my syllabus. Telephone and radio told who the winners were. I didn’t need a crystal. Last time I watched was leopard chair and whoopee cushions that’s when I saw the industry of light, our buttered roll. These are the friends of inklish, I was told, by someone from an anglophile race. They read all the great books and perform them in the garden of naked statues.

(p.51)

Romeo and Juliet a tragic play, it bleeds through the text. The piece ties old and new references, plays and movies, and I think English both as a language and locations. I noticed that she changes words that sound similar and when you read it you put what you think is suppose to go there. For example noses, to roses and inklish to English. Sometime she takes a word out all together. How does naked statues mix with play and actors? Free bodies or actors taking on a mask for characters or taking on another form or mold, “a prosthetic muppet”, as seen in the text.  It could also represent the audience, envision the audience naked as a cure for stage fright. I feel to that there is a race thing going on, “black, white, or khaki” and the mention of the anglophile race. Which there is this fondness for English culture, English text, and maybe great books, perfected sculpted statues. What people what to be? As people look up to actresses and actors, they are all beautiful and many would love to be like them. Maybe all of life is a performance and we play our role in the norm of society.