TRANSCRIPT: Jessie McCarty is a writer and aspiring power point performer for stage and screen. They were crowned bagel queen of the midwest by montreal playwright Joe Bagel. Jessie is a company member of runways lab theater and BFA of creative writing at SAIC.
“TOO MANY BUTTONS, NEVER ENOUGH SHOES: a short story of how I, most successful harlot, lost all my marbles”
I’m drowning in your leverage, public rejection.
Did you make the right selection?
Hey, Look, good job, but I’m a loser in sheets.
I don’t mind love less ness the walls are wood my floor fine china
I have to tip toe that’s how fragile living with me is like.
And it’s like,
Pearl textures, phone cases
Tear the copy of the odyssey you’re reading, please and look at me
So, how’s that outside looking from the inside, she asks me and
You pretend I’m dumb
But
I’m not Dumb
I don’t mind love less ness but sometimes
I get scared of
Rats in the cage
Or moths
In my bathroom Cabinet
Don’t go looking in there, like
Who looks at someone’s prescriptions?
UTI scoundrel.
That’s you’re new name.
Scoundrel Look,
good job. You got me a little
Terrified now.
Of pain
Blood stains
A wimpy kid in sex chains.
Like, why’d you come over anyway?
I’m trying to bruise
And you’re touching me like you
Wanna cuff me (wait
A
pun?
Fuck fuck
I’m so Sorry)
And then Look at my fine china, the ground
Look at my walls
Have you ever been sad?
Or raised your wrists up to the bed stand
Ever been stressed out
Or ran into the movie theater with a
Half jar of French fries
And cola
Holding hands
With
(redacted)
Heaven wasn’t made me for
Me
And keep your pants on, ok?
Eager Nancy over here, geez
Have you ever been right
Or wrong about
The state
Of things?
When God said “ohh yes issa vibe”
Did he mean
All this
I’m running out of sketch pads and the yearn
For the hung-up life ahead is
wearing
I’m close to edges
Revenge is a cold cold pot
And I don’t drink tea like that
When all this is over we’re gonna
Have a whole lot of loving
Aint we
Aren’t we
That’s the headline of the news
I Screw Newest Gay on the Block
After the End of the World and
And
And
they don’t love me
Love less energy
The tapestry
A box falls out of the ceiling. We knew this would come.
A roof made of water can’t be frozen for, like, ever.
And in this box
is everything. Every kind of thing.
Beginning and Middle End
Fragments of a little white lie I made at
17
Haunts me to this day.
Stop being nosy, alright? I can’t tell you
ever
Man, this fucking sucks
What would I want with this?
Find Desire?
Yearning for Hire.
Fucking and
Kissing
Stealing boxed wine at the
Walmart
For Hire.
What does all of that have to do with me?
I’m not that good in bed
Excited at best
I’m no fate master
I’m no epiphany.
Everything is in the box and you won’t burn it
Everything is in this box and I haven’t
Felt satin
In
So
Long.
So so long.
And so long, wind gusts
Wind chills
Global warming is an issue, ya know.
So then Nancy comes over and looks at the box with me
but
She doesn’t know what it is
And
So we freeze it
After this
Carrie comes over
Shows me all her shoes and I get jealous and
Call her a catty bitch
Because she has been talking to Nancy
And I don’t’ trust them together
Or what they’re saying
When I’m not there.
Now everyone wants a taste of
The frozen cardboard.
Now im the head honcho.
So when im the head honcho, people come over. And you
Know how antsy I get, To imagine guests like entertainers
Actors so close to C list.
Just one more gig! They keep ringing.
Look. Good job,
But I have everything in this box, and I can’t
Look inside.
Then Nancy comes over one more time then we kiss
And try opening it again.
It’s all there, she says, my
Beautiful chicken.
That’s my fifth grade memory she stares
And I say I know, baby,
It’s everything.
We have to bury it, we agree. So we bury it. And burying up memories and the consumption of everything is not and has ever been, easy.
These are some odes we knew.
Prince is still inside, but he refuses to be set free.
Every copy of Harold Pinter is in this box, sadly, impossible to burn.
3 Photos of my first hair dye in my early 20s
My girlfriends on a rampage to cancel their ex boyfriends on the internet
Reality tv shows where social media is the prize
C list status
1 million dollars
Grief
Strife
My favorite ice cream flavor
Everything that’s inside, is inside
And I’m a “turmoilistic” lesbian
Too shy to say I’m afraid
Of the ownership of
Everything
Because who wants It all
When they finally
have it all.
Carrie’s back. Asks for some wine
And we drink it. I do love Carrie but she rarely talks of revenge
Like me and Nancy.
Revenge is a sour grapefruit
We like to lick, never taste.
Kat Evans has been performing in Chicago since 2006 with theatre companies such as Promethean, Black Button Eyes, The Hypocrites, and City Lit. You can see her onscreen in feature film NONTRADITIONAL, and Web Series: Lucky Jay Seasons 1 & 2, Geek Lounge, and Why Don’t You Like Me? You can hear her opinions as a guest on Fox Valley Film Critics and Reel Geek Girls. Kat is part of the performing and writing ensemble of Starlight Radio Dreams, and is the creator of the audio serial comedy, Truth Kittens. In addition to Starlight, you can hear her in podcasts Our Fair City, and Toxic Bag.
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