The Cherry Orchard

I was in The Cherry Orchard

In November of 1981

When my brother came to visit

See the show

Stay with me for awhile

You paying attention?

I don’t say anything twice

So pay attention

Because when the story’s done

It’s done, okay?

Back then I did stuff I shouldn’t have done

Shouldn’t have been doing

Should have been focusing on my art

You know what I mean?

My art

Any of you do art?

Any of you doing stuff you shouldn’t be doing?

I was a kid back then

Younger than you see me now even

I’ve been dead a long time

So it feels good again

To express myself

To have a voice

And I look pretty, right?

Don’t I look pretty?

It’s funny how good you can look

While you’re dying

You know?

People leave you alone

Because you look so good

She’s doing this

She’s doing that

But she looks good

So leave her alone

My brother came up to get me

To take me home

I had a nice place right outside of town

That was mine

I mean, I owned it

It was mine

Nobody in my family ever owned anything

And I owned this place

This little farmhouse

Had a tool shed

Had a chicken house

No chickens, but I was working on it

Then I got into the shit I shouldn’t have

And pretty soon

I couldn’t have my little farmhouse anymore

Isn’t that sad?

Hey, don’t feel sad for me

I’m dead, remember?

Pity the breathing, baby

Pi-tee the breathing

My brother let me finish the show

My last show at the Orpheus

Then he took me home

Sold my farmhouse

Never did get those chickens

You’re going to hear some people tell you

We all did bad things back then

It was the 80’s, it was the 70’s

It was the 60’s, the early 90’s

Disco, Kurt Cobain

Blood, guts, tears

Rock ‘n roll

We were actors

Artists

We starved

We died

We were reborn

Some of us lived

Some of us died

But every one of us had a story

And some of those stories got lost

You see what I mean?

A person isn’t such a precious thing

But a story?

That’s something you can’t put a price on

Something you don’t want to lose

So I left the theater

And my house

And I went home with my brother

After he ambused me

Threw me into a car

And said—You can’t be trusted anymore

Took me home

Put me in a very nice place

With Nice. White. Walls.

And that’s my story

At least what you’re going to hear of it

Were you listening?

I hope so

Like I said

You only get one chance

That’s not just my policy either

That’s life, kids

That’s life