Froth

How much screen time might it take to awaken us? (An experiment in prose-poetry)

Froth
           by Odin Roark

Come
Be my operator
Me your camera

Medium shot
Lower Manhattan sidewalk café
He in Armani suit accented with Ferragamo tie
She with Jimmy Choo and Prada outfit
Both with Latté and croissant

Low angle
Bottom of refuse chute
Zooming up through food trash
Hurtling downward
Tortillas
Rice
Chinese vegetables
Big Mac wrappers

Wide angle
Textile floor
Sewing machines
Steam pressers
Dark skin
Yellow skin
Back to back
Fans whirling
Sweat flying
Finishing food break
Quickly down the chute
Garbage

Traveling
Into subway car
Dark skin
Yellow skin
Heads bowed
Exhaustion at end

Night
Manhattan
Armani and Prada
Dancing
Drinking
Rolled $100 bill snorts

Night
Bronx
Yellow skin
Dark skin
Fire escape mattress
Bathtub mattresses
Wall to wall
Families on straw mats
Domestic fights next door
Depriving sleep

Night
52 floors up
Skyline view
Moonlit bedroom alight
Prada with Eye mask
Armani with face scrub plaster
Seashore CD lulling sleep

Wide
Night shift
Congressional mailroom
Rows of paper-shredders
Reams of documents
Header �" “Minimum Wage Proposal”
Pages upon pages
Shredding into recycle bins

Low angle
Nightstand projection clock
Ceiling lit up with 4 AM
TV comes on
BBC morning stock report
Armani raises head from pillow
Puts on glasses
Stares at TV screen
Removes glasses
Manually turns off TV
Spoons Prada

Sunrise
Bronx studio apartment
Chinese family lines up
One bathroom
15 readying their day

Wide
Textile floor
Steam building up
Hundreds of idle sewing machines
Prepared

Close shot
Espresso foam machine
Latte cups waiting
Froth filling the frame