James Ardis & Maggie Woodward: Script Notes for Nekromantik
Scene I
they opened the body bag like a christmas present
do you recall what I was wearing? / we are fucking,
learning new things[i] / transitioning from cum to blood
crunching hard candy till it severs our tongues
transitioning from fur to the strata below / if I’ve said
anything that inspires you
let me know
Scene II
Our protagonists Betty & Rob absolutely for certain met at German Denny’s because at German Denny’s (much like Denny’s Classic) you pay your bill at the front & you tell your waiter aloud how much you’re going to tip them. Betty & Rob are absolutely for certain both really into this.
Scene III
now Betty jabs a pipe into the dead man’s groin / now Betty
slides a condom on the metal / Betty won’t catch any dead man diseases
don’t worry, the dead man’s wife is dead too / our manifesto
is of transgression: we propose to break down all the taboos of our age
by sinning as much as possible. there will be blood, shame,
pain & ecstacy / there will be body bags
opened like christmas presents
Scene IV
Remember when Dr. Pepper used to talk about their secret recipe of 23 ingredients & made a really big deal about those 23 ingredients? In high school I called corporate Dr. Pepper toll-free from a booth at German Denny’s & pretended I was having an allergic reaction to Dr. Pepper[ii]. I demanded that they list off all 23 secret ingredients. I started taking it seriously. I drank too many iced cappuccinos. My body oozed an angry sweat that never left that booth in German Denny’s.
Scene V
you stupid dead man, how could you get your stupid ass killed & your stupid eyeball impaled by part of a car & cheat on your wife who is not as dead as I implied earlier & how could you let them open your body bag like a christmas present
Scene VI
Our manifesto says there is no afterlife, our manifesto says the only hell is the hell of praying. I pray while I smoke cigarettes in a movie theater. I don’t even smoke but I saw a dipshit do it once & now I wanna do it too. Buying both your ticket & your Dr. Pepper Ten at the box office at the same time is brilliant. The dead man’s stagnant eye is brilliant. I smear Cholula[iii] & melted cheese across my face in my booth at German Denny’s. I tongue the stagnant eggs below.
Scene VII
Betty is able to collect her thoughts she’s collected all the viscous fluid Betty is very unsure of where she’ll be accepted with her corpse lover I mean, can you imagine
Scene VIII
Betty, there are lines that just cannot be crossed like when you opened the body bag & why you opened the body bag & where you opened the body bag & how you knew that the body bag was your christmas present when you type it out it’s pretty clear what the reason is
Scene IX
the porn theater industry was still slightly in vogue they could afford larger theaters complete with couches & leather chairs & beds & What lives that does not live from the death of someone else?[iv] let me know if I’ve said anything
Scene X
that inspires you our manifesto knows that the only hell is the hell of obeying laws & debasing yourself before authority figures our manifesto thinks we can’t fully love until we understand mortality under our manifesto I am certain my consumption will become violent do you know what I mean, Rob? when I say / I want to be a word
COMMENTS FROM PRODUCER:
[i] we need to credit nick zedd & underground film bulletin for the quotes if under
copyright
[ii] get permission from DP to use brand name before shooting
[iii] is this brand name too? if so need permission
[iv] maybe could use for marketing tagline?
JAMES ARDIS is an MFA candidate and a Texan. You can read his glitchy,
video game–inspired poems in wu-wei fashion mag, Rust + Moth,
FRiGG,, and in the forthcoming chapbook Your Arkansas: A Strategy Guide
(Gauss PDF, 2016). He stores additional glitches at jamesardis.wordpress.com.
MAGGIE WOODWARD is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of
Mississippi. She is senior editor of The Yalobusha Review and curates the
Trobar Ric Reading Series in Oxford, Mississippi. She is also a programmer for the
Oxford Film Festival and a high school debate coach. Her work has appeared or is
forthcoming in Axolotl Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, wu-wei
fashion mag, and The Atlas Review, among others.