My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 155

sara:
Dreams times this body, plus urgent
truth…
the mayor:
Cut off notices for cell phone, electricity,
gas. You got yo flashlight? You gonna
need it. Ball so hard, you need extra
batteries…
sara:
Dreams times this body, minus a sane
source for inspiration, divided by
taxes, loan sharks, potential death by
default…
the mayor:
Rent’s due, baby. Dance that dance.
How many sips of rum does it take to
make believe you in Paris?
sara is at the tree, digging in the
ground.
sara:
Damn. Why’d I have to bury it so
deep?
the mayor:
Get y’all asses in line for the party
peoples.
sara:
I’m gonna break every nail I got
digging this outta here.
the mayor:
It’s the funk of 40,000 years…

sara:
There. I got it. Dreams plus faith, times
plenty honey and memories of all the
roads my folk walked to get me over…
sara holds a mason jar up to the
moon light
the mayor:
A lineage of people, moving through
door ways. Exits. Entrances. Choices.
sara:
I should equal something. Sacrificed
plenty — romance, babies, my folk’s
dreams about who I could be, despite
folk’s judgment of the very same
(a beat) me.
sara opens the jar, dips a finger inside,
and tastes the contents of the jar on
her finger.
sara:
It’s almost totally crystalized.
the mayor:
But she’s going to hell, or so she thinks,
based on her training and history. It’s
hell. That’s where all the real niggas go.
Where it’s hot is where we cool. Real cool.
sara:
This dream is so sweet. Just a little
more moon light, and in one more
month, I can take all my prayers with
me and go. There’s dreams inside broke
pockets, dreams inside no heat.

154

sara pulls an envelope out of her
pocket, kisses it, and reads the letter to
herself, quietly.

the mayor:
Sara, under the moon light with all her
dreams, y’all.
sara:
I’m gonna study Ms. Legendare’s dance,
her technique. I been knowing this is
what I had to have for so long. And
she sent this letter to me. She signed it,
and sent this to me, saying I can come
and learn from her in New York!
I’m gonna dance how she danced the
first time I saw her on mama’s tv…
ms. legendare appears on screen,
as she would on a black and white
television. ms. legendare dances a
furious, sensual, rule breaking,
convention shaking dance.
sara dances with her jar of
prayers and dreams, imitating
ms. legendare’s dance.
When ms. legendare’s dance is
finished, she coyly blows a kiss at her
audience. sound: Applause, whistles,
joyful screams of appreciation.
sara catches her kiss from below.
sara kisses the letter, returns it to its
envelope, kisses it again, and puts it
inside her jar.