In Their Own Words
Ryan Murphy on "I do not want to stay"
I do not want to stay
I do not want to stay
Or say
Anymore.
The birds fog in
Like Tyvek flapping
From scaffolds.
The bare spring trees,
I peel the label off
Carefully, carefully
Take a tranquilizer
The landscape regains dimension.
The men in their demolished
Sheetrock rooms.
On "I do not want to stay"
At the time that I was writing "I do not want to stay" I was in the midst of a relationship ending and leaving New York City. I was staying in my former apartment, empty of all furniture, until the lease ran out . The building I was living in was being renovated, and certainly my apartment was next. The language and the imagery are intended to reflect both of those facts simultaneously (as much as possible)--what it is like to sit amidst destruction, physical and emotional.
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