Below is the more video from Wednesday afternoon's tryouts -- this one with Mo Cash, performing her poem "Little Miss Sunshine," along with text of the poem and a self-critique by Mo.
"Little Miss Sunshine"
By Mo Cash
Little miss sunshine is
a naturally occurring phenomenon,
a supernova spun from optimism.
What happened to her?
She’s been processed like Chicken McNuggets
and stamped with sockets.
Long wires twist around her
connecting light bulbs to her body
so that they may drink her electricity.
Like a calf drinks its mothers milk.
Sweet buttery light
makes her smile and lick her lips.
“I have an extra outlet if anyone needs it,” she proudly declares,
always happy to help a fellow illumination.
Light bulbs flock from miles around
and feast on her voltage.
Giant cords slowly slither towards her.
She is proud to supply a city.
As time goes on,
she is consumed.
The nuclear fusion in her belly
begins to slow,
and her smile fades
into a vacant gaze towards a random spot in space.
“I must not fail, I must help my friends,” she murmurs.
Still, machines gather around her
to absorb little miss sunshine’s warm radiation.
She grows dimmer and dimmer
like a glow stick twelve hours after cracking.
She is cracking.
Two light bulbs collapse on the floor
and roll around as sparks dance about their broken shards.
She can’t provide enough.
Sadness churns in her belly
like water so cold it boils.
As the light bulbs die on the ground,
her withered and tired body can do little to reflect
the violent sensation of icicles forming in her stomach.
She manages to whisper,
“I’m sorry I couldn’t fulfill you.”
These are her last words
before her consciousness fades away
and her luminescence is forever snuffed out.
That’s what happened to little miss sunshine.
Self-critique by Mo
I really don’t think my performance of “Little Miss Sunshine” is up to par. I feel like if I work on it a lot maybe I could get better at it, but I honestly am having a really hard time getting into this piece. It’s a lot easier for me to get into my other poem because it is a very emotional piece for me, but this one just feels bland when I perform it. If I were to continue working on the performance of this piece I’d probably find places to vary my tone more and get really intense so that the poem has some texture.
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