C.S.E. Cooney

MEDUSA MIA!
a mythtacular night of story and song

December 2016.
Artists from 6 states & 2 countries.
Classical texts.
Contemporary Mythic Poets.
Original Music.
Over $600 to a local charity.

ACT 1
CLASSICS

OVID’S “MEDUSA”/ Song: Cootchie Cootchie, Medusa Baby
(Text for “Cootchie Cootchie” at BR’s Alecto! Alecto!)

PURCELL’S’ “WHEN I AM LAID IN EARTH”/ Song: Dido in Effigy
(Text for “Dido in Effigy” at BR’s Alecto! Alecto!)

EURIPIDES’ “MEDEA”/ Song: Medea’s Dragon
(Text for “Medea’s Dragon” at BR’s Alecto! Alecto!)

HOMER’S “CIRCE” / Song: Circe embedded
(Text for “Circe” at BR’s Alecto! Alecto!)

CARROLL’S “THE JABBERWOCKY”/ Song: The Jub Jub

ACT 2:
CONTEMPORARY

Song: Gentle Caliban

LIZ DUFFY ADAMS’ “BECALMED: A 10-MINUTE PLAY”

Song: Black Widow’s Waltz
Text for “Black Widow’s Waltz at BR’s Headless Bride)

JESSICA WICK’S “GOOD NEIGHBORS”
(Text for “Good Neighbors” found at Uncanny Magazine)

Song: Foxgirl Song Cycle 1
(Text for “Foxgirl” at Uncanny Magazine)

JULIA RIOS’S “YET I BREATHE”/AMAL EL-MOHTAR’S “PIECES”
(Text for “Pieces” at Stone Telling)

Song: Lady Knight / Pale Lady

CARLOS HERNANDEZ’S “IN LIEU OF THE STORIES MY SANTERA ABUELA SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME HERSELF, THIS POEM”
(Text for “Abuela” at Uncanny Magazine)

Song: Maggot the Banshee / SHVETA THAKRAR’S “NAGINI’S NIGHT SONG”  / Song: Barrow Brine embedded
(Text for “Nagini’s Night Song” at Mythic Delirium)
(Text for “Barrow Brine” at BR’s Headless Bride)

ARISTOPHANES’ “LYSISTRATA”/Song: Lysistrata, Strut Your Stuff
(Text for “Lysistrata Strut” at BR’s Alecto! Alecto!)

What strikes me tonight, as Hernandez reads “Entanglements” from new anthology Latin@ Rising, is first, his introduction.

He comes onstage smiling, and he begins by thanking everybody. He thanks the Twenty Sided Store who hosts us, Chris Kreuter for Emceeing us, the audience, everyone.

It is as if the story he is about to tell is his home, and he is set on becoming the host of that small but infinite space. By taking the stage, by expressing his gratitude, he opens his door and ushers us all in.

There is, on his face, an expression of almost beatific sweetness.

It is a smile that hovers over him like a halo. It never quite leaves his face, even during the direst and darkest of passages, but takes on a curve of bitterness here, a pang of helplessness there, shades of rage, or hunger, or desire. Throughout, the glow of that smile lingers at his cheekbones, illumines his eyes.

It always begins and ends with gratitude, with him. As if it weren’t our honor just to be in his presence, listening to him read. And such stories!

Anyway, I have a lot to learn from him. Not least of which, to remember that we must take nothing for granted. This time, this attention, this space, this place, these people. To express our warmest and most genuine welcome in gratitude, to open the door into our stories with joyful grace.

Krampus baby, slip a birch switch under the tree, for me
Been an awful bad girl
Krampus baby, so slither down my chimney tonight

Krampus baby, a scourging purge with your little lash, then smash
All the bones in my hand
Krampus baby, come slither down my chimney tonight

Think of all the hell I’ve raised
Think of all the fellas that I plagued and hazed
Steep me in your cauldron deep
And cook me till I’m nice and braised

Krampus honey, a suit of fur would just make me purr, for sure
Been a devil all year
Krampus baby, so slither down my chimney tonight

Krampus cutie, there’s one thing that I really do need, to bleed
In a cauldron of limbs
Krampus cutie, so slither down the chimney tonight

Krampus baby, of predators you are the apex, you vex
And you hex all the time
Krampus baby, so slither down the chimney tonight

Come infest my Krampus nest
With flogs and chains and horns and hooves and all the rest
Krampus, I’m obsessed with you
You’re better than the very best

Krampus baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring
Yes, I mean through my nose
Krampus baby, come slither down the chimney tonight
Slither down my chimney tonight
Hurry, tonight

for Jeremy Brett

He was the archivist, hive artist, building bee of book queens
Cataloguer, stargazer, keeper of the histories
Time-tender, mind-bender, guardian of the garden
(Opus-blossom, tome-bloom, orchid of the quarto moon)
Dictionary sentry, vede mecum warden
Softcover sentinel, steward of the volume
Compendium custodian, defender of the lexicon
Minister of monk scrolls, occult apothecary
Poetry protector and conservator of copy
Encyclopedic overseer, dissertation sentry
Omnibusboy, page of pamphlets, prince of printed leaflets
Codex cad, thesaurus rex, treatise tarot reader
Monarch of the monographs, anarchist of albums
Archivist, hive artist, Atlas of the atlas

Due to OUR change of venue, we are unable to get our hands on a projector screen for this SUPERFUN PRE-SHOW Carlos Hernandez and I put together!

What we’d meant to do was have these images, multiple choices, and “unfun” facts for the PRE-SHOW, and then RE-USE the images DURING the show, pairing with the songs we chose them for.

So, after you watch, just imagine REPLAYING it with the following in mind.

ACT 1: CLASSICS

(MEDUSA) 1. OVID’S “MEDUSA”/Song: Cootchie Cootchie, Medusa Baby
(DIDO) 2. Dido’s lament “WHEN I AM LAID IN EARTH”/Song: Dido in Effigy
(MEDEA) 3. EURIPIDES “MEDEA”/Song: Medea’s Dragon
(CIRCE) 4. HOMER’S “CIRCE” / Song: Circe embedded
(JABBERWOCK) 5. “THE JABBERWOCKY”/Song: The Jub Jub

ACT 2: CONTEMPORARY

(ARIEL) 1.Song: Gentle Caliban/Liz Duffy Adams’ play: “BECALMED”
(WITCH) 2. Song: Black Widow’s Waltz/“GOOD NEIGHBORS” (Jessica Wick)
(KITSUNE) 3. Song: Foxgirl Song Cycle 1
(WAR) 4. Julia Rios’s “YET I BREATHE”/Amal El-Mohtar’s”Pieces”/Song: Lady Knight / Pale Lady
(ROOSTER) 5. Carlos Herandanez’s “In Lieu of the Stories My Santera Abuela Should Have Told Me Herself, This Poem”
(BANSHEE) 6. Song: Maggot the Banshee
(NAGINI) 7. “NAGINI’S NIGHT SONG” (by Shveta Thakrar) / Song: Barrow Brine embedded
(LYSISTRATA) 8. “LYSISTRATA” SCENE/Song/Parade: Lysistrata, Strut Your Stuff

A Facebook Private Message Collaboration! Sort of by accident. Meteoric brightness in this gray.

My friend Nicole Kornher-Stace, author of ARCHIVIST WASP, created this AUCTIONS FOR ACTION page.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

We’re here to auction items (art, books, handcrafted items, baked goods, whatever!) to benefit the ACLU. Ongoing as long as there’s interest!

Here’s how it works:

SELLERS:

1.) List each item in a separate post under the “Sell Something” tab.

2.) Set a starting bid and end time, and whether you are covering shipping cost or the buyer will need to pay for it.

3.) When your auction is over, post that it has ended and contact your buyer.

4.) The buyer will provide a shipping address and proof of donation to the ACLU in the amount of the winning bid.

5.) If you are not covering shipping costs, you will need to get them Paypaled to you by the winning bidder.

6.) Ship your item as agreed upon with the buyer.

BUYERS:

1.) Bid on items in their own threads. Note what time your auction is ending.

2.) If you win, provide your shipping address to the seller.

3.) Make a donation to the ACLU (https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu) in the amount of your winning bid and send the seller proof of your donation.

4.) If shipping costs are not covered by the seller, you will need to pay them to the seller separately.

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY and THANK YOU SO MUCH!

dismembered but still singing
the musician floats down sorrow river

even now
they retain their sense of glamour

maybe it’s the sequins, the high-and-lowlights
or reverb from a lav mic clipped to their rhinestone collar
(and this, all this
gore-caked now, glitterlessly blasé
from the surgical frenzy of that last great show)

the musician sings Ogden Nashish rhymes
to the melody of a dusty velvet aria
they are

unworried
about time signature, tradition
key change, coming in sharp, loss of lyrics
addled eggs

or
adulatory flowers
released in startled arcs
from the palms of a perspiring audience, like
a magician’s emaciated doves

mouth open, water lapping
they sing,
soundlessly

not even a laryngectomee’s wheeze through the stoma
not even that

but there is lipstick, at least
spotlight-bright
on that bloodless face

stylishly smeared

C. S. E. Cooney

December 6th, 2016

First of all, all I want for my birthday is . . .

. . . a concert featuring all my favorite monsters, myths, queens, and witches.

. . . performed by poets and actors and writers who happen to be my dear friends.

. . . wherein I get to sing songs I wrote, because WHERE ELSE DO I GET TO SING ‘EM??? (Just call me “Florence Foster Jenkins!”) 

. . . and give any proceeds from this concert to our local food pantry / thrift store / social services and education center, THE JONNYCAKE CENTER OF WESTERLY!

Not a lot to ask, I know!

And I wouldn’t have asked it of anyone. I wanted to give this to ME for a present.

To do that, I embarked on my ¡MEDUSA MIA! project.

Now, I know–not all of you (my, like, five dear friends who actually read this) can make this event.

Aaaaaand I admit, sheepishly, the out of pocket cost for this concert is daily growing steeper than I’d originally anticipated (especially because, since embarking on my plans, I impulsively finished paying off one of my college loans, thus decimating my savings account somewhat).

So!

If you (friends and family), MAYBE had been planning on getting me a LEETLE PRESENT, I ask you to consider instead . . .

SENDING ME BIRTHDAY MONEY AT PayPal.Me/csecooney!!!

I’ll be sure it goes to the CARE AND FEEDING OF ARTISTS, the RENTING of SOUND and LIGHTING equipment and the LABOR with which to operate it.

And I promise, anything leftover WILL BE DONATED TO THE JONNYCAKE!

If you LOVE GIVING PRESENTS but you don’t HAVE THE MONEY (a position I’ve been in SO MUCH OF MY LIFE), please spread the word on Social Media!

Here’s the FACEBOOK INVITE!

And thank you. Thank you. I love this singing, this making art.

I love this turning of songs into food for the hungry.