The Duel

As you've probably noticed, Lily's been writing a lot lately. I, on the other hand, have been somewhat empty after a big push in May. Tonight Lily challenged me to a duel.



We met over a table at Ebert's (which we still call Creperie, even though it's now called Ebert's). We each brought a notebook. I also brought a small dictionary and Jose Lezama Lima's selected poems, from which we pulled words or lines as prompts. With these prompts, we had two minutes a round to write something. Then we read the results to each other. We did ten rounds.

I talked loads of trash the entire time.



Everybody won.

Some Samples for you...

4) LIMA quote: "I can't. I mean it."

LILY
"I can't. I mean it."
i won't, you want it
i don't, we had it
i choke, i get it
i wouldn't anyway

FRED

"I can't. I mean it."
I should, I mean
I wanted to, or thought
it would be promising
to offer, that I might
see my way through
any obstacle, the mud,
but I spoke before
I lifted a finger
and that changes
everything.


5) THE REMIX - we took two quotes by Jose Cemí, from his novel Paradisio, read them aloud, shut the book and had to remix the images from memory.

"The president crossed the ballroom like a nicety on the lid of a cigar box."
+
"The house, the candles in their holders, seemed to stress its metals, as if preparing the fireflies of memory for the future."

LILY:
A swarm of fireflies around the President's head. He plucks one out of thin air, cups it in his palm. Flickering flesh. Into a cigar box he drops it, closing the lid, then cracking it, making sure.

FRED:
The president crossed the cigar box like a nicety attached to the back of a butterfly, a candle stressed to its metal, waxing in the glow of a flickered shutter.


9) LIMA quote: "You can erase from the book of life."

FRED
You can erase from the book of life. Dare me. I will replace from the look my wife gave me over tea. Engage another lever. Love a perishing weaver. Tar and feather the elbow leather of an elephant. Recant. Recount.


10) THREE WORDS randomly chosen from the dictionary.

grain introduce nipple

LILY
Let me introduce Miss Daisy Chain, she'll be performing for you tonight on the high wire, the hoops and the crystal jig-a-lig. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Daisy Chain is a one of a kind wonder, straight from the plains of Indiana to our Windy City. You think you've seen legs? A sassy derierre? A tantalizing glimpse of nip ... (time's up)