Reading the Paper

As read by Megan Merrick, music by Eberhard Weber, Tobias H. Reese, Jan Garbarek, photography by Livaria Lill, sketches by David Alvarez. CVP productions©multimediagroup.2013

As read by Megan Merrick, music by Eberhard Weber, Tobias H. Reese, Jan Garbarek, photography by Livaria Lill. CVP productions©multimediagroup.

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Reading the Paper

By Tobias H. Reese. /not formed.

I drive down a winding, familiar road, listening to an orchestra that plays directly to me.

I pass a fellow motorist, signal left to right then feel the soft-hard night begin fall upon the city stage.

As I glide beneath an overpass the melody is fine; wrapped snug in Korsakov's law of harmonic motion.

Among the background shuffle of styrofoam and quarterpound burger-wrapped streets, you can just make out the rhythms of residential recitatives.

I hum louder, conducting with one hand while the other tends the chore of steering.

I drive along by rote; the music, the road ahead...

both well known.

Compassionate about everything and nothing.

The deep frost black of night drops at last.

I lower the windows to let her in.

 

Then, as if on cue, for the finale of this predictable but well-loved fanfare, my eyes are averted from the road by a man beneath a street lamp reading the paper.

Naked. Hairy.

Naked, unconcerned.

Just standing there...reading the paper.

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Author's Note

This is a work of fiction.
I write in the land of metaphor, a world of symbolism and unrestrained abstraction governed by a hypothetical thought process and rhetorical sense of understanding.
If ever you feel the need to remark to me "I know how you feel" or something of that nature, please refrain as you aren't understanding the nature of what I've written at all.
My writing is seldom personal. :-)

Peace.

Reviews

[Archia]

I found this odd almost, but odd in a good way. It was the way it developed a character around a moment and then ended with this image of a naked man reading the paper. I'm not quite sure what it is about it but I really enjoyed that. I think it was how much was captured in moments, not going into depth about past or anything more, but just the music and then this man. It was really good, I could imagine it read aloud.
Also I know how you feel (sorry I had to), when people presume your writing is personal it can be quite annoying. Some people just seem to think if it's in first person it has to be true.

[Tobias H. Reese]

Thank you very much for your time and thoughtful comments. I've enjoyed some of your work too. :-) This piece was performed - first person narration style- by a young actress named Megan Merrick in a shortfilm production bearing the same title. During post production a primary studio computer crashed destroying much of the artwork, footage etc.
I believe I have some of the audio and fragments of the video itself however. Let me know if you'd like to hear it. I could attach an mp3 via email. Peace and thanks again.