Photo by Luis Leon from Pexels
A theatrical adaptation of Linda Gregg’s poem, Asking for Directions by Jerold London
Me like a mare let out to pasture.
The Tao does not console me.
– Linda Gregg, Chosen by the Lion, 1994.
TIME AND PLACE
1994.
Aboard a passenger train, the Lake Shore Limited, Manhattan to Chicago, just arriving at Chicago’s Union Station.
Three months later, in a Chicago wine bar; and then back.
CHARACTERS
LINDA GREGG (1942-2019), American poet. 52 in 1994. Friend of Jack Gilbert’s.
JACK GILBERT (1925-2012), American poet. Friend of Linda Gregg’s.
DAVID, 50s. Linda Gregg’s lover.
CAROLE, 40s. A friend of Linda Gregg’s.
SCENE
LINDA is asleep across David’s chest in the seat of a passenger car as their train approaches Chicago’s Union Station.
DAVID
Linda! Linda! Wake up! We’re here!
LINDA
Waking.
What?!
DAVID
It’s Chicago. The train’s arriving.
LINDA
O! my God, David! Why didn’t you wake me sooner?
How could you do that?
Our trip together, and you let me sleep through the last three hours?
That’s terrible!
DAVID
You were exhausted, Linda.
And you seemed so peaceful.
I like that.
LINDA
What’s that smell?
I don’t recognize it.
DAVID
You mean this?
Points to the lining of his vest.
LINDA
Yes. Is it sheepskin?
DAVID
Uh-huh. It’s the lining of my new Chinese vest.
LINDA feels it.
DAVID
I’ve had it on the whole way.
LINDA
Look at me!
Too busy sleeping. Damn it! To notice you had a new vest on!
And staring out the window at those in-between places with their backs turned to us.
DAVID
You called them something.
LINDA
The small, neglected stations of our history.
DAVID
Yes…. The small, neglected stations of our history.