No Manifesto
in 13 points
composed/compiled by alicia Lynn grega

 as performed at the Mudball Festival at PMS Farm in Lakewood on Aug. 25, 2012
(I considered writing a second draft but there’s something about the raw emergency of just getting this done on the car ride to the farm that I’d like to preserve with all its faults for authenticity’s sake. This is this piece- a product of its time and circumstances.)

I
NO TIME
down time
NOW
no more stalling

Kill time.
Murder it.

Age is a state of spirit.

Play Simon Says with the cat.

Borrowed time; borrowed money; borrowed luck.
Time called, it wants the loan paid back with interest.

Waiting sucks. Especially when it’s starting to look like you’ve been stood up.
Oh 2012, you are the age of no commitment.
The No Call; No Show.
No matter how old I get I will always be five years old again every time someone fails to show
in ruffles and curls crying for the daddy who didn’t come again.

II
NO REST
for the wicked.
For the recovering workaholic I say, NO.
Because you do not have to prove yourself to me.

No daydreaming.
Get your head out of your art.

On the way to the Pacific Ocean I melted in a puddle of tears.
Standing in the waves washing over my toes I saw all that had happened to me since I last stood on that shore.
Only a girl then
And since, so much loss.
So much hurt.
So much joy, too.

Be so tolerant that your heart becomes wide like the ocean.

III
NO PEACE
The ebb and flow of novelty in the universe…

Achieve not stagnation,
but the stillness of the lake in the evening after the boats have docked.

I want to live so deep in the woods, it’s like a fairy tale.
The air of a different texture- magical.

IV
NO MEMORY

It takes 15 minutes for our brain to record short term memory.
This is why when you come out the other side of a traumatic car wreck, there is no memory of the accident.

In Zen we realize the river is not there. Stream of consciousness.
You can’t hold on to a thought.
Consciousness is unfindable.

V
NO STRESS

No hard feelings.
No expectations.
No worries.
But do sweat.
Sweat a lot.
Stretch yourself.
Exceed your self-imposed limitations.
You are your own greatest enemy.
Be come bound less.

VI
NO TEARS
Crybaby.
What are you afraid of?

No guts.
No pain, no gain.
No one wants to hear you complain.
Just suck it up and deal.
You think you’ve got it bad? Ha!

It’s not a contest.

No excuses.
Just get over it already.
When are you going to grow up and learn to take your medicine?
You’re not a princess.
You are not in line for the throne.
You think you’re special?

You are.

Shut up bully.
Mean girls are ugly on the inside.

VII
NO IDENTITY

I am not solid.
I fill up the empty space you leave like a liquid or gas…

The liberal downfall is being too flexible.

Spam
Counterfeit
Encryption
Stolen data
Hacking your soul

It was never me he wanted at all.
I let him squish me into a fantasy.

VII
NO FEAR

There is no boogeyman.
Sell yourself,
But don’t sell out.

Be seductive.

“Even the moon is frightened of me,” said The Invisible Man.

Apocalypse i’s not destruction so much as a cleansing.
Rebirth.

IX
NO HARD FEELINGS

Love is the answer.
Forgive yourself.

No shame.
The shame of not getting it; of not being good enough.

What have I done to qualify?
What has she got that I haven’t got?

Condemning news stories judging other people.
Every person has the struggle of good and evil within themselves.

X
NO EXPECTATIONS

I should have listened.
The best ideas are born in that La La Land between asleep and awake.
Mustn’t force these things.
Need to make (breathing) room,
room for daydreams.

XI
NO RESERVATIONS

Forbidden apples.
What do you know about love?

All I ever wanted wast one loved for all my awkward imperfections.
Perhaps because of them.
Isn’t that what we all want?
To know that we’re not broken?
That it’s not our fault?

XII
NO MARTYRS

Don’t wait to see what he got you- buy yourself something this Christmas. Save 15 percent with this coupon.
The people who love you want you to be whole,
Need you to be healthy.
Heal.

XII
NO CURE

Suffering is the norm.
Less is more.
There is no one size fits all solution.

The genius of Jack Benny- a coworker told me so – was getting the audience to make up its own joke.

John Bromberg quoted Washington Allston: “Never judge a work of art by its defects.”