Daniel Brothers

Haikus and Other Short Poems By Daniel Brothers For Robby “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there are to see Park Bench Sunset Marmalade Dripped atop the tree’s skyline Rustling the leaves Canoe A Canoe has two seats, but if i sit in the middle I don't feel alone

I was looking through a notebook of mine the other day, it was the book which I had been using to plan my brother's funeral. The front half at least, I have a bad habit of grabbing the nearest sheet of paper and writing in it regardless of the other contents. This book happened to also have a short play, some random grocery notes, and a page of text that I could not recall writing. Sometimes I write in the middle of the night, barely awake, because of some thought I needed to get out of my head. Sometimes I dream of my brother and I wish his voice was as clear as it is in my head. I haven't had the two nighttime habits meet I don't think, not until I stumbled upon this passage in my book. Have you ever written something that you never thought before? Words that aren't your own, thoughts projected to someone else, or just the inner workings of the psyche broken free by tiredness. If you have, maybe they look like this. I wonder Author uncertain.  I wonder what...

Where You Going?  By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there a At rise:  A young person sits on a subway platform waiting for a train [ a young tourist enters, dazzled and confused, they read a sign glance about, you hear a train approaching] Tourist: Excuse me do you know how to get to 59th street from here? YP: Aw geese Ma’am you’re asking the wrong person Tourist: I just need to know how to get there, I’m meeting a friend we were supposed to get lunch. YP: Pshhhh um. Well I’m pretty sure that is a north bound train, so it’ll at least get you closer. Tourist: Oh thank you sir! [she exits] [Young person exhales and slaps knees, looking back and forth] [another person enters, a businessperson] BP: Ah shit  [they sit down near YP] BP: hey guy, do you know a faster way to get to Recter Street from here?  YP: Ah look m...

What’s going on?  By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there a At Rise: A man sits on a train platform, his friend stands up leaning on a support I beam. Man: Hey, hey what’s going on over there?          [Friend looks up, and then back at phone] Friend: I dunno looks like some lady fell over or something Man: That a person lying on the ground?  Friend: Yeah Man: How can you tell?  Friend: What? I mean, it’s a person Man: You got some mad vision or some shit, 2020 vision over here seeing through steel  Friend: Look the legs are sticking out! And she’s wearing a coat what else wears coats?  Man: I dunno Manakins wear coaaats.  Friend: Oh so you think that a manakin has fallen down the subway stairs and that’s what’s going on?  Man: Well no.      ...

Sleeping Thoughts  By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there a At rise:  You see someone writing in their journal, it is very personal to them. They glance back through some of the previous days when they are done writing and think comforting thoughts for a moment. When they finish, they place the journal under their pillow, turn off the light, and go to sleep.  Someone enters from a shadow, they stand over the bed for a moment. Reaching beneath the sleeping head of the first person they grab the journal. Paging through it slowly, reading the entries, they find the last one and write down something. Then they replace the notebook, nod slowly, turn and leave without looking back. The first person awakes groggily, not looking about the room but instead reaching for the journal, they pull it out and write sloppily down the dream th...

“No Story monologues please” Let me tell you a story, did I ever tell you about how I came to New York? It is quite the story, yeah. It started as a thought in my head maybe four years ago, or five years ago now. How to begin? I remember what I thought about, let me tell you what it was, what it meant to me. I knew it was going to be quite the summer when these thoughts began, about the story that is. Something i wouldn’t forget for a long time. I had a dream once… Actually, let me start over, It’s hard to share these things sometimes when you feel that real connection with someone. I’ve never had the chance to tell you this before, and I don’t want to mess it up you know? It’s hard to express sometimes. Ok. When I first thought about moving to New York. But before i can do that, let me tell you another thing! I’ve never known when to begin a story like this, i mean it should be easy but it really isn’t. I always ask, how do I put this. Well I think I know something more now, some...

Hobo’s Home By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there are to see” Characters A: Someone who left a party, Female B: Someone who followed, Male  At rise: A local street with signs benches trash cans and loose litter that one would find on a street.  [A sits on one side of the street for a while. Deep in contemplation of the other side. Be enters from the same side she is resting on and joins her] B: You aight?  A: Just needed a breather B: Oh ok, he goes to leave  A: Hey! B: Yeah?  A: Have we met?  B: Don’t think so. A: I’m sorry. I’m . Goodnight B: Are you alright?  A: No I’m not alright why would I be sitting on the side of a road when there is a room filled with dancing aand laughter 20 feet away from me B: I can think of a few. Too hot, too noisy, lot a sweat. I once ...

A Time to Remember By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there are to see”  Characters Minute; A representation of a construct Hour: A representation of a construct Second: A representation of a construct Man: A soon to be father, whose wife had complications with the birth At rise: Standing in the center of the stage is Person. They are looking at their watch. Circling them at different paces is Minute Hour and second. Second: I wonder what he is waiting for?  Minute: Oh I don’t know his wife was around for a while Hour: He is going to be a father Second: Yes but right now he isn’t doing anything how can he just be waiting around for it to happen can’t you like go in there and hype the mom up to pop em out faster i mean come on! Minute: I don’t think that’s how it works Hour: Nope Minute: But even then this is...

Shadow Play By Daniel Brothers For my brother Robby, “I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty  I miss the sureness of my feet, but god… ...what wonders there are to see”  Nigel: A man Mistress mysterio: Mysterious proprietor of the house of shadow At rise: Mistress Mysterio sits on the stage, not fully decked out, but certain dress seductively. She is sitting casually and comfortably [Nigel is thrown from offstage. He is awkwardly dressed in poorly fitting leather scrappy clothing put on him as if he didn’t really understand the exact purpose of all the different latches. He is also gagged] Nigel: [gagged] Whoa! Hello there how are you?  Mysterio: Do you crave a new sexual experience?  Nigel: [gagged] I would like to know your name first i think.  Mysterio: Nod for yes, shake your head for no Nigel: [shakes head]  Mysterio: Just come over here. [she removes the gag] Nigel: My goodness that i...