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.
From Millbrook (Black Dress Press, 2016). All rights reserved. Reprinted with the permission of the author.
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.
Millbrook
(Black Dress Press, 2016)
