Volume 16 ~ Spring 2004 ~ ISSN 1543-6063

ELAINE EQUI

THE FLOATING WET NURSE: 
A MELODRAMA WITH DISCUSSION QUESTIONS


A young girl walks up a narrow staircase.

She is going to visit a healer. The healer is a married couple based on another married couple of TV evangelists. The scene is a bedroom.

WOMAN HEALER (referring to the girl, but speaking to her husband):
It’s true she hasn’t made much progress, but I have high hopes for today. Today is the day she’s going to meet the Big Kahuna–-the Original Source.

Man begins undressing and putting on a pair of striped green pajamas.

GIRL (to man, referring to pajamas):
Sharp!

MAN (to wife, referring to girl, disparagingly):
Say what you want, but I don’t think it will amount to an amaryllis.

GIRL (annoyed):
Well if you really want to know what I think of your pajamas–-they look stupid!

The girl turns and hurries down the staircase. She feels afraid and worries that she may have missed the exit and is now on her way to the basement where she’ll be trapped.

MAN’S VOICE (angry, on the stairs behind her):
Get a tub and fill it with water!

GIRL (thinking aloud):
Oh no! I’ll be like Cinderella, forever scrubbing pots and pans!

Cut to the final scene, a swimming pool in which the girl is seen floating in a plastic tub. A scarf is tied, gypsy-style, around her head and she wears large, gold hoop-earings. She is holding a baby (presumably belonging to the couple). Her expression is drugged, miserable. She may or may not be topless depending on whether this is PG or R rated.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Who, besides God, might the Big Kahuna be?

2. Can a thing be both sharp and stupid at the same time?

3. What is so insulting about an amaryllis? (See also classical pastoral poetry where
    Amaryllis is a conventional name for a shepherdess.)

4. What do the words “Floating Wet Nurse” suggest to you?

5. Have you ever visited a healer with unfortunate results? Please share.



MOUNTAIN TO MOUNTAIN


Marriage of mountains–-

in the death valley of your shadow,
                               I’ll fry an egg.

Big Tit Mountain.
Marlboro Country

Shangri-La-La
Mountain Dew

Iron Mountain
Sugarloaf

One day I’ll climb your hunchback ladder–-

a twitchy, twangy, tangy green.

I could move if I wanted,
says one mountain
                               wavering to another.

But we are not like rain–-
here one day, gone the next.

Be strong, stubborn mountain.

Stay fixated on yourself.

Poems © Elaine Equi 2004. All rights reserved.

Duncan Hannah
www.jamesgrahamandsons.com

~ Previous Issue ~ ~Guidelines ~ MastHead ~

Home...