Jerome Rothenberg, with Charlie Morrow
ABRAHAM ABULAFIA VISITS THE POPE
A Fragment of a Steinian Opera
[The following is part of an opera conceived & planned with composer Charlie Morrow but never finished beyond the first two scenes (shown here) nor ever put into production. Abulafia selbst (1240-c.1291) was a great mystic & master of a species of meditation that took the form, often enough, of a kind of mystical lettrism. In 1280, responding to a dream or vision, he set out for Rome to convert the Pope (Nicolas III) & to proclaim himself the Jewish messiah. Threatened with execution he was thrown into prison but saved by the sudden death of the pope himself. Some of his lettristic work, translated by me and Harris Lenowitz, appeared in A Big Jewish Book: Poems & Other Visions of the Jews from Tribal Times to Present (reprinted later as Exiled in the Word).]
Chorus
Jews in a ring.
Jews on a rollercoaster.
Jews who sing in a ring.
They are & they sing about everything.
Old Jews who do what they do they sing & they ride on a rollercoaster they sing in a ring & young Jews do too who move by ones & by twos they ride to the sky & over the sky they ride in Italy over the sky & on the sky Jews on a rollercoaster do who ride over Italy on a ride to the sky.
First Jew
[in black face & puffing on a stogie]
I am a Jew I am a Jew too & I have come to Italy to ride on the sky & to be blue oh yes blue yes blue blue.
Second Jew
[a pirate with a gold ring in one ear]
Over the sky in a rollercoaster I too who am a Jew & who say blow me away & shiver my timbers sweetly yes sweet my sweet Jewish timbers.
Third Jew
[in a feather bonnet he is an Indian tomahawk & all]
Yes yes I have come all the way to Italy to be a Jew like you oh like you yes yes like you I ride on a rollercoaster over the sky.
Fourth Jew
[majestically dressed he is dressed as the statue of liberty in a long gown & with a glowing torch]
I have left the golden land & I have a torch in my hand in my precious Jewish hand I have come to land in Italy too & to ride on the sky like you.
Fifth Jew
[a wolf mask over his face & a shepherd's crook in his hand]
Am I not a Jew if I am not a Jew what am I, but if an animal can be a Jew I am one too.
Sixth Jew
[in the clothes of an Arab or maybe of a patriarchal Jew]
I am a true Jew true & blue & I say barakh hu to everyone I see in Italy & here too.
Seventh Jew
[wears a military costume with medals on his chest & a cockade on his head]
A Jew who says one two & two knows one & two & can do whaever I do, he can ride on a rollercoaster & dance yes a Jew can dance too in advance of a rollercoaster.
Eighth Jew
[a faggot]
A Jew like me in Italy is a Jew & is a faggot too like me yes anyone who comes to Italy can be a Jew & he can ride on a rollercoaster on the sky & so I am true & blue.
Ninth Jew
[spherical & round he rolls across the floor]
I cannot say barakh hu & yet I am a Jew nevertheless & this is true.
Tenth Jew
[Abulafia]
But Abulafia who is a Jew is different too. He is the first to sing & the first to come to Italy. He is the first to meet the king the true Italian king & the first to meet the pope the way I do. He is the first in war the first in peace & the first in the hearts of his countrymen.
[The true Italian king comes in he is dressed like George Washington & rides on a bicycle.]
Chorus & Jews
[singing]
He is King.
He matters.
He is King.
He forgives.
He is King
He is King.
He attends a wedding.
He is King.
He attends a decision.
He attends.
He attends.
He dances.
We see.
He is King.
We siphon.
The inheritors dance.
He matters.
He is King.
We attend a wedding.
He is King.
He is King.
He forgives.
Abulafia
This is a scene.
King
In a garden.
Abulafia
In Italy.
King
What is your name.
Abulafia
Abulafia.
King
You have come a long way. What is your name, I pray, I pray.
Abulafia
My name is buried in a hat.
[He looks for it.]
Yes it is Abulafia. See. It is Abraham Abulafia.
King
I see & do you sit beside me.
Abulafia
Yes I do. Thank you I do.
King
I am a king.
Abulafia
I see that & I thank you too.
King
But I am a hidden king though I am most true.
Abulafia
Do not forget the penpoint when you do.
King
No but I forget the world in bits & pieces.
[Abulafia reads from a book.]
King
Will you read to me from a book.
Abulafia
Thank you, I pray & I pray. I will read to you from a book.
King
Begin here
Abulafia
Yes here.
[He begins to read aloud. The other Jews circle around him.]
Abulafia
Here is here now & here is here now & here is here now. And here. He does & does he sing between the curtains. Yes it says. A herd of horses crosses through his hall & circles. In a ring. What is his book called. It is called the Book of Witness. See. The little y is where his name is. It is here & here. Oh yes cries Abulafia & do it once. Once here & one here. One is called a king & two is called a king's king & three is called a king's king once. Four is fourth & goes forth to a door. He opens to begin a door. And five. Five is on a hand & is a herd of horses. Six are Jews & brightly. Seven is a proposition. Eight is also nine. And Abulafia again is ten & goes forth to a door.
[He passes the book to the first Jew.]
First Jew
He goes forth to a door. Here is Barcelona where the trip begins.
Second Jew
Begin is pleasing. Capri is rich with fish & goyim. If you can do mileage with a pencil others will find the way.
Third & Fourth Jews
When they say they say. When a month is far away they say the gay month.
Fifth Jew
Jews kiss Jews. A gay month. He is on his way to Rome.
Sixth Jew
Two Jews are on their way to Rome. One is gay & one is in golf shoes. The other is in despair.
Seventh Jew
A king a garden & a violin. The door before the Pope is open to a door. A door swings shut so sadly sadly.
Eighth Jew
Two Jews in golf shoes. Two Jews in paper hats. My hat is launched. To see the King first is to be with kisses.
Ninth Jew
Two Jews in tears. One bows before you. One is the other's keeper. The Messiah is the one called the Messiah.
Abulafia
Now Abulafia puts down the book. He is all smiles. The King is charmed by him & the Jews are irreversible. Abulafia winces. His right leg feels the skateboard still in place. Ring a rubber bell for me. He rings it. The house in Italy leads to a rollercoaster in the sky. A Jew lights a cheroot & feels a small decline. I let the King peak through my glasses. See oh yes I see. A wise Jew pisses in a tub. He rubs her ivories with lemons, then descends. Dance One: The King in Limbo. Strike a pose. Repose. Disclose. Expose. A thin Jew swings a shoe. Dance Two: The King is talking to his telephone. Where is the Pope is he in Rome of course the Pope would be in Rome. And the Messiah. Tell oh tell is the Messiah in the garden in which he fell.
King & Abulafia
Yes he is here oh yes yes he is here & here
before a garden.
SCENE TWO: THE PATHWAY OF DARK SHADOWS: ABULAFIA HELD PRISONER IN
THE NET OF LOVE.
[Enter the three women who are three women in love. They sing.]
Three women in love
we are
who are in love with a Jewish king.
So we are & we sing.
Three women in love
we are
& so we sing we sing
under the moon.
(The moon, the moon,
& o the Jewish king.)
Three women in love
we are.
And we wait where an old moon dies
in the old king's eyes.
We sing & we wait.
And the night grows old
where we wait.
Where we wait with the moon.
(The moon, the moon,
& o the Jewish king.)
[Abulafia appears in the sky above them. His earlocks are long & fall over his shoulders. In his right hand he holds a blue & white umbrella.]
First Woman
[no longer singing; speaking]
Along this road or somewhere somewhere along this road he comes. And where he comes I do or do detect him.
Second Woman
And now we watch see how his foot sets on the ground.
Third Woman
See how his other foot goes searching for the path his first foot takes.
Second Woman
When Abulafia becomes a traveler on the earth we circle –
First Woman
And we take him in this net.
[A net falls down & covers Abulafia.]
Third Woman
And bind him.
Second Woman
Oh love is vegetable & love is blind.
All Three Together
And so we say.
Abulafia
[covered by the net he feels along its surface as if testing the narrow walls & ceiling of a cell. When he speaks he sings.]
Into the love of marigolds the Jew returns & goes, o does he go & sweetly, neatly as the paper where he reads he sees the letters float with love, sweet love sweet marriage blisses. When he kisses love the Jew begins with love, & when he sins love wins him to her side. The bride in love & o to be in love & be beside.
[Then speaking.]
It is only this or this that keeps me from it that delays the leap across the trees into the house the deep house & the ring where the messiah sings & is true.
[Slowly, very slowly.]
I had set out to do what I must do & here love keeps me true.
[The other Jews appear. The Italian king is now a Jew too, he is with them.]
The Jews & the King
[as a chorus, while the women raise Abulafia above them in the net of love.]
Tomorrow.
One.
Tomorrow.
One by one.
Surprises.
Light.
No light at all.
No surprises.
To bewilder a taste
& open it.
One.
To surprise
with cheese.
To delight.
One.
Perfect in understanding.
The girl has her shape.
Perfect for once.
It is real.
It is past.
A holiday is everywhere.
Send necklaces.
The Three Women
[swinging around Abulafia's net on ropes that hang from the sky.]
Do they whistle for work.
Do they whistle for a wedding.
Do they whistle for a beard.
Do they whistle for whistles.
Do they whistle for bathtubs.
First Woman
And when.
The Three Women
Do they pretend to whistle.
Do they pretend perspiration.
Do they pretend breakfast.
Do they pretend jewels & furs.
Second Woman
Will they be first
or will they.
Third Woman
Or will they return to be first.
First Woman
Or will they return love.
Second Woman
Or will they love & turn back.
Third Woman
Or will they express themselves too often.
First Woman
This is what I guess.
Second Woman
I do not offer a hand but it is offered.
Third Woman
I do not wait for the sea by decree or by a holding.
First Woman
I take greater pains to be best knowing of their wishes.
The Three Women
We prefer to be first.
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