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| Containing
The Lie
Being a interview between a young chimpanzee and a graduate student, in which they explore common ground. The setting is a small theater-like room with semi-circular seating raked upward. As they enter, the Cast of Characters are identified by the credits rolling over them. Down in the stage-area is a homey set where the Graduate Student interviews the Chimpanzee, whose family members are in close attendence. The Author walks about, intensely, rather like a director of his own fantasy. All the characters and the audience are normally attired, except the Chimpanzee, who appears to be a human actor in a chimpanzee suit, and the Graduate Student, who appears to be a chimpanzee in a human suit. Cast of Characters The Chimpanzee. One of the recent experimental primates who have been taught a language system in a normal human home environment. Mommy. The adult female of the home. Cousin. The infantile female of the home. Audience. A surrounding, intent group of primates. Author. A bearded surly primate. The Graduate Student. A seeker of knowledge
The Performance Begins Student: When did they first admit that you used language? Chimp: On a Thursday. I had said a thing a second way, offered an alternate phrasing. They found that generative. Q. That did it? A. No, I called my cousin Shit-face. They found that inventive. Q. That did it? A. No, I said Shit-face broke the teacup. That did it. Q. Why? A. They found that a lie. Language can falsify. Ergo, I . . . Q. Is that true? Must language (to be language) tell a lie? A. When Mommy scolded Cousin, I felt powerful and sad, as if a branch had come off in my hand. Q. Do you believe a chimpanzee will ever write a poem? Which takes intellect, and which poets say is for truth telling? A. I would say, judging from life with Mommy and Cousin, that such a thing would want a lie in it. Q. Why? A. When the next cup fell, I called myself Shit-face. I believe I dropped it; I should have dropped it. Cousin sat in her high chair, looking solemn. Q. Well, you must type it out, to have a poem. A. That's no problem. Audience: Just a moment please. Which one of you is the chimp? Author: Really, must you interrupt? That is the reason they wear masks. Please attend to the point: that the poem must contain the lie. Graduate Student: If we may continue. Now this word 'contain.' Do you suppose the author means that the lie is limited, as by an enclosure, a theater, a zoo? Chimp: I think 'contain' means held, careful-not-to-drop. Laughter from Mommy and Cousin Audience shakes fists, shouting that it is throwing tomatoes. Tharp, R. G. (1998). Send in the angel. In L. T. Hoshmond, Ed., Creativity and moral vision in psychology: Narratives on identity and commitment in a postmodern age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Pp. 144-172. |