#32
Bernadette Peter’s guest appearance on The Muppet Show in its Second Season really pulls some strings on my heart. This poem is a kind of love leaf to the Fall as I contemplate loss. When I was growing up in New England, seeing trees turn orange had to be one of the most intoxicating spiritual feelings I’ve ever associated with the miracle of life. Perhaps being born in October contributes to this connection I have with autumn. I think one of the best performances I have seen of Bernadette Peters was her rendition of Nat King Cole’s “Blame it on My Youth,” performed on The Carol Burnett Show. That is the kind of mood I was feeling writing this poem.
& The form I chose is a pantoum. I read somewhere that a pantoum is like taking two steps forward, and then two steps back, and it reminded me of Bernadette Peters’ opening number, “Take a Little One Step.” The repetitive lines were able to create what feels like an incantation, and Peters originated the role of The Witch. As I walked into the woods, I found a spell had already been cast in the past. I wrote “painted dots” not thinking of Paint Your Wagon, but thinking of Sunday in the Park with George, and then noticed the painted dots in the “Take a Little One Step” opening number. For me that connection is a sign of God, whatever that is, it doesn’t matter, just that it is there.
& The second was “The Ant and the Grasshopper” fable. I wrote kind of my own version for #25 (Rich Little), and so I thought for a minute that it didn’t make sense to be somewhere else, but then I accepted it for what is was and worked with what I had been given.
& This pantoum has five stanzas because Robin sings, “I’m Five.” It seems as though it is little Robin’s first time performing on the theatre stage, but he actually performed one song before this, which was “Halfway Down the Stairs,” in Harvey Korman’s episode in Season 1. What Robin really wants to sing is “We Call the Wind Maria,” and so the element of wind, unknown, had to be there, as the forest lights on fire. The idea of retracing, going backwards, repeating lines, had a kind of hypnotic transcendental effect on me.
& Miss Mousey deals with her issues of deceit and lies in the opening number, and during the time I was writing this, I happened to also be rereading Alice in Wonderland. In Chapter 2, Alice confuses herself for Mabel. The name struck me because Bernadette originated her role in the Broadway musical, Mack and Mable. When I saw it on Broadway, it hurt my heart.
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