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Quicksilver & Suede, Emily Epler nee Emily Rice
Above pic is from The Levity of Lithium. I am holding lithium pills in my hand.
Here's some info about my play, The Levity of Lithium: The show about mania, marriage, mojo, karma and other relationships sold out its first Harrisburg performance March 27th, 2009, at Der Maennerchor, Harrisburg, PA. I could not have done it without the help of my fearless director, Lisa Werner, and my steadfast stagehand, Carolyn Luddy. Written by Emily Epler, this "hybrid entertainment vehicle" was first performed as a spoken word piece in the summer of 2008, part of the Philly (PA) Fringe Festival. A review is online at www.broadstreetministry.blogspot.com. The revamped one-woman show features original poetry, music, dancing and comedy.
Here's some verse from The Levity of Lithium (copyright 2009)
I'm Just a Goddamned Vending Machine
I'm just a goddamned vending machine
My frontal plane is full of buttons.
I accept change and dollar bills.
Someone else has decided
What I'm going to sell.
Someone else gives me
Snacks and candy, mints and gum.
Someone else has programmed
Which numbers correspond to each item -
Someone nefarious, someone I
Accidentally gave power to,
My only defense so far:
Selling out, going out of order
Or short circuiting, thereby
Frustrating the customer
By dropping down different goods.
Occasionally when I am unplugged
(I run on electricity and have a cord)
I take stock of my contents,
Examine the layout,
Notice the expiration dates
Rest for a while.
I imagine a new motherboard.
I imagine you will not trick me again.
I imagine I will have learned something.
I imagine you care that I am a success.
I imagine your philosophy and maintenance
Is not constantly confusing my ambition.
I imagine you will not put me away.
I imagine you have not gained anything
From my losses.
I imagine
The noose around your neck.
I imagine I am a free thinker.
I experience moments of peace
And not revenge for something.
I never even owned
Your love
I'm just a goddamned vending machine.
Buddhalicious
extinguish ego's flame
surround yourself with saffron color
forget the west
and all its capitalistic promise
find a river by which to meditate -
Buddha's Niranjana -
replicate the current
inside yourself
this absolute path in nature
all flowing to the same ends
awaken truth
universal
Cork
I know you have safely moved beyond
You are not weeping and going
Through endless tissues with
Tears that are for me trying
To put the stopper on the bottle to save
What was us and
For this I am grateful and
For this I feel indebted to
Your somewhat damaged veracity
Your usual lack of pretense
Your particular brand of justice
That seems available
Even to someone who
Made the cost so high
Someone who decided
The pieces of us that were saved
Are something we put back together
Because we can and because we do not hate
What we once loved and thrived for
Like magnums of champagne to which we toasted our times.
I want you to know the worst is over
And when I do have a child
"D" will be part of the name
And just this simple act
Like you, will change me forever.
Her first book, Quicksilver and Suede, published by Spirit House Press in 2004 sold out (finally!) after a 4-year run at The Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, Robin's Bookstore, Philadelphia and Sister's Uptown Bookstore, Manhattan.
Her poetry has also been published in HerStory, a collection of feminist works edited by Julia Tilley, Experimental Forest, edited by Kevyn Knox and Jeanette Trout, Megaera and The Voice.
In 2002 she was awarded a grant from The PA Council On The Arts for her short story My Former Life As A Black Man. In the late 90's she received the Past President's Award from The Harrisburg Manuscript Club for her short story The Desire of Soul. A long time ago she received a scholarship for creative writing from Hershey High School.
She wrote The Levity of Lithium for The Philly Fringe Festival. It explores bipolar disorder, the condition of mania and marriage. It ran August 29th, 30th and September 5th and 6th 2008 @ Pageant/Soloveev, a gallery on 607 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia.
You can cross reference the author on her personal training and fitness website under the name Emily Epler @ www.webspawner.com/users/focusonfitness/index.html
BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF DREAMS, INDEPENDENCE & INTEGRITY!
p2, More Q & S
Shirazad
Sweet, sweet Leilani
Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel zine
Delacroix, that skeptical romantic?
dozen daze nostalgia
Send E-Mail to: emilyverse@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2009 Emily Rice Epler. All Rights Reserved