AND WE, EACH - LIBRETTO [DRAFT - 2 August 2023]
Text by Shane McCrae
Libretto by Michael Hersch and Shane McCrae
ACT I OVERTURE
(PERSON 1) … the roaring of the blades (PERSON 2) Hacking the summer from the air … (BOTH) … I write you to make a wound write back
I.
(PERSON 1) … you sitting to my right To the left of me oblivion forever I think it is oblivion forever That you conduct oblivion from where You sit unmoving … I turn my head as far to the right as I can … keeping you - your body there in the corner of my eye my body too far to see if you are watching me but I feel you watching me (PERSON 2) I don!t turn my head … Hand between us almost cramping But I can!t pull it to my lap remove it from its nearness to your thigh; My palm flat … I close my hand and when My hand becomes a fist and tallest there …
II.
(PERSON 2) …Because no excavator has yet been designed to fear the thing it rips from the dirt No excavator would be gentle enough not to break the simulacrum from its bone original and frame (PERSON 1) Or would the crumbling shape become a him The excavator tears an arm Off and it dangles from the shovel as Clumps of dirt fall through the shovel’s teeth meat Cooked From the bone