"Stand There Screaming"

I only participated in one group show in Queens, but at least I can say I’ve been shown in New York! Unperformable Music was one of the pieces I had in that exhibit. The others were Bigsong II and More Salad Ideas, which no longer exists. A lot of my art no longer exists. I threw a bunch of it out when we first left Cambridge for Des Moines (stupid), and threw a bunch more out once in Des Moines (more stupid). Sometimes my stupidity makes me want to scream.

Stand There Screaming

© 1994 Brian Hutzell and Wally Koekebakker

She knows how I feel

Right in front of me she steals a kiss from him

Making sure I don’t miss a thing

She knows what I’m thinking

And she knows I’ll stand there screaming inside

I can’t react

This is not the place for that

She hears the silence and its meaning

I stand there screaming

The sound of a voice with no more strength for one more battle

The tone is gone and now there’s just a rusty rattle

A mighty cry, now an exasperated sigh

I stand there screaming inside

They know what we want

But they’re not gonna give it up without a fight

They might eat it right before our eyes just for spite

I stand there screaming at the twilight’s last gleaming

The sound of a voice with no more strength for one more battle

The tone is gone and now there’s just a rusty rattle

A mighty cry, now an exasperated sigh

I stand there screaming inside

A voice with no more strength for battle

All that’s left is a rusty rattle

Loss of breath and a crusty cackle

One more press, and trust me, that’ll crush me

I can only take so much

You try to touch me

I just stand there screaming

I stand there screaming

Pages 18-19

Brian Hutzell

from Unperformable Music