This is part five of an experiment chronicling my production of the All-School outdoor CDC compliant production of Wizard of Oz with 104 students aged 6-19, an utterly insane thing to do. But golly we are having fun actually doing something instead of just talking about it. Using our bodies and hearts and hands and voices instead of just our wheel spinning minds.
How large everything seems to the small.
I walk a long line of winged monkeys
From the first and second grades
Down the hall of possibilities
Through paint and peppermint
Past yarn flowers and poetry,
Around Basquiat pastels and revolutionaries,
Across habitats and treasure maps,
On the way to rehearse our wicked monkey ways.
Little Ava walks beside me in the lead,
Telling me proudly this is her third show,
How first she was a squirrel and then a frog.
I remember, I say, with a smile behind my mask.
She whispers as we turn the corner to middle school-
I heard some of the monkeys will capture Dorothy.
Yes, I say, it’s true. Two monkeys will fly her away to the witch’s castle.
Will they get to touch Dorothy?
Her reverence brings me to a stop.
Why yes, they will.
Oh I hope it’s me, she says softly with all the longing in the world,
I just want to do something important.
The Wizard
Is no wizard.
He’s a sixth grade boy
Named Anthony.
An earnest boy
New to the school
Who spent the year
perched on the edge
of a homeroom
full of rock stars
and little generals.
Before it all began outside of my own head, I held a Zoom meeting,
and told everyone that the leads would most likely come from the high school.
Then I got this email:
Dear Mrs. Crawford (because everyone my age is a Mrs.)
I don't know if you remember me
but I shadowed for the 6th grade class
December 4th in 2019
I am also the kid who asked
if he could be
the Wizard of Oz.
I just wanted to give a reason why-
In the movie they are trying to find
the Wizard
and they think of him
as the strongest man in the world.
When they pull back the curtain
they are disappointed.
Well, I am not very threatening
and I am not all big and bad,
So, when they pull back the curtain
They’ll be disappointed to find
that a 12 year old boy
is the Wizard of Oz.
Sorry about the long email,
Sincerely Anthony
One good thing about me-
I know a good idea when I hear one.
Reader, I cast him.
And he already knows his lines.
Toto
Teachers aren’t supposed
To have favorites.
But to hell with it,
My favorite is Toto.
Progress
Over a year-
Speaking to screens
And tiny boxed faces
Pushing words around
The vertical page,
Flattening the world
Into a screen share,
Sending my voice
Into the void------
I spend the sun bright morning
Unpacking a recent costume donation
A Christmas morning of airing out
Someone else’s dreams
Sixty year old handsewn sequined
Razzle dazzle let’s put on a show
Heart and soul for all to see
One show stopper after another
And there it is-
A shimmering pearlescent
Ivory beaded flapper dress
That makes its own light
Just the right size
Just what was needed.
I hang it on the rack
next to Glinda’s name
and say to myself-
now we’re getting somewhere.
_______
Ask just ask
The lesson I cannot seem to learn
I put out a list of things
Needed for the show
Items I don’t have or can’t find
Tasks that need other hands.
I tack it on to the
Weekly rehearsal reminder
Sent out on Sunday afternoon
As it occurs to everyone at once
That a Monday morning looms.
Within minutes offers land like
Cards laid down by a Vegas dealer-
I can help paint
I can help sew if it’s by hand
I found these masks for you
What about these Fez hats for the flying monkeys?
Ordered and on their way, you should have them in two days.
Dizzying, the generosity of our little world.
So I’m giving it a shot
Since I may be on a roll.
World- can you send me a companion
For this my third act?
Kind and funny
Wicked when it suits us
Able to read my handwriting
Prospering and generous,
Good with all things money,
Good with all the things I hate,
Open hearted as an old explorer,
Odysseus after he’s planted his oar.
Maybe throw in a home in New Zealand
Or Prince Edward Island?
Oh, and let him be patient,
Eternally patient,
With my blistered heart
As it gets used to safety,
Gets used to the feeling of home.
The Fox at Dawn 