Video interpretation by Marcy Watzl (full video on Instagram @bookofshepoems)
PROLOGUE: She saved her tongue for strawberry ice scream.
STORY: Once upon a time there was a woman who was also an actor and happened to be in a play with another actor who happened to be a man. The woman knew all of her lines early and followed the directors directions while the man tried to direct himself and didn’t think learning lines was all that important until the day before the play opened.
The woman was humble.
The man was arrogant.
It is important to note that this is not always the case where men and women are concerned, but it was the case this time.
On the night that the play opened all of the actors were sitting in what is known as “the green room” waiting for their cue to come on stage when the arrogant man actor made an inappropriate sexual comment to the humble woman actor in regards to her breasts. The arrogant man decided that he was being complimentary, but really he was just being an asshole and everyone in the room knew it because it wasn’t the first or last time he played that particular real-life role.
The humble woman probably could have punched A-man and everyone else in the room would’ve gladly joined her, but then the play wouldn’t have happened because everyone would’ve had black eyes—which wasn’t in the script—so instead, the humble woman took the high road and stared, squinty-eyed, into A-man’s face without smiling, without wasting her breath—or her tongue.
A-man grew uncomfortable and looked around for support, which no one offered. H-woman continued to stare at A-man in a loathing sort of way that said, Dude, you’re such a schmuck. Which he was. Which was made more and more apparent by the hard stare and harder silence of H-woman.
Just as A-man was about to spontaneously combust, the cue came and the play started and the audience clapped and A-man did not remark on H-woman’s breasts the next night, or ever again. H-woman celebrated her on-stage and off-stage victories with strawberry ice cream—her favorite.
EPILOGUE: A-man continues to make inappropriate remarks to women.
H-woman continues to perform brilliantly in many plays. She also grows strawberries in her vast garden and most recently created the short video based on the poem “No Fool” for week 24 of The Book of She. See it on Instagram @bookofshepoems.
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