**From Stage**
Is there some *guilt* in the audience tonight?
Is anyone *guilty* in the audience tonight?
Does anyone in the audience wish they were richer than they are tonight?
Does anyone in the audience wish they were thinner than they are tonight?
Anyone want to be more famous than they are tonight?
Do we have some jealously in the audience tonight? Some envy? Some spite? Some hatred and resentment?
Raise your hands if you’ve cheated, lied, or stolen in the audience tonight. Raise your hands if you’ve been dumped in the audience tonight.
Do we have some jealous girls, in the audience, tonight?
Do we have some pain in the audience tonight? Make some noise if you’re living a lie tonight, if you’re trapped inside your own life tonight.
Let me hear you scream, if you’re guilty, in the audience tonight.
Let me hear you scream, if you’re lonely, in the audience tonight.
We’ve got a wild show coming up, and an amazing audience tonight. We’ve got a guilty audience, tonight. We’ve got a guilty audience, tonight.
**Brevity (for Alex)**
I count 34 stars
5 Steeples
3 hillÂtops
1 sea
1 distant peninsula
a town of uninterrupted white houses
I count 45 things whose lives are longer than my own
I anchor myself to my brevity
I don’t matter and I am invaluable
**contradiction**
success won’t make us live forever; but obscurity seems no different than death
we know our sadness isn’t our fault; but we punish ourselves every day
we know scarcity is a selfÂsustaining myth; we cry in our bedrooms when others succeed
we know that beauty is harmful myth; we still long to be mythical
we believe in interconnectivity; we put ourselves first, always
we know men and women aren’t real; we still want them to want us
we know power isn’t earned; somehow, certain people still shine
being alive should be enough; we still want more
*Grace Dunham is a writer and activist from New York City, currently living in Los Angeles. Their first chapbook of poetry is available at (2). Their current project, (3), developed with (1), is a crowdfunding platform to help trans and gender nonconforming people in jail and detention raise money for bail and bond.*
1) (http://link.lennyletter.com/click/8408515.0/aHR0cDovL3RoZWZvb2wudXMvP3NyYz1ubCZtYWc9TEVOJmxpc3Q9bmxfTEVOX25ld3MmZGF0ZT0xMDAxMTY/5672eded1aa312a87f2d6890B0a2b8389)
2) (http://link.lennyletter.com/click/8408515.0/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdXBwb3J0LmZtLz9zcmM9bmwmbWFnPUxFTiZsaXN0PW5sX0xFTl9uZXdzJmRhdGU9MTAwMTE2/5672eded1aa312a87f2d6890Bb4d7a6a8)
3) (http://link.lennyletter.com/click/8408515.0/aHR0cHM6Ly9qb2RpZS5pby8_c3JjPW5sJm1hZz1MRU4mbGlzdD1ubF9MRU5fbmV3cyZkYXRlPTEwMDExNg/5672eded1aa312a87f2d6890B617fef5d)
