Sculptures of Imagination
William Overington
Three stagehands quietly walk onto the stage.
One places a chair near her.
Another brings a small table.
The other places an autoharp on the table.
She walks to the table.
She picks up the autoharp and sits on the chair.
She speaks.
"This next song is about a virtual world creativity language."
It is a song of invention.
The song has six ordinary verses, each followed by a chorus, that outline the language.
She will sing it all, though the two backing singers will join in on the choruses,
though not loudly.
A seventh verse is strong and powerful and she will sing loudly and hold both
the first syllable of the final verse and also the first word of each of two
later lines of the final verse.
She is lit in one lone stationary spotlight.
Darkness surrounds her.
She takes up the autoharp and prepares to play.
One line of music leads in.
She will sing it inwardly to herself.
Then she will sing, slowly, solely to her own playing.
(A sculpture lies in space)
On a plane there lie some oblong tiles
Each carefully in its place
And by the coding on each pair
A sculpture lies in space
Such tiles could be so permanent
Fully crafted by hand
Or at a whim made on a beach
With lines drawn in the sand
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
At the middle of one shorter edge
Of each oblong tile is there
A point to launch a construction line
To fly out in the air
Up at forty five degrees
Until it meets its pair
Then forget about construction lines
Leave the point up in the air
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
If I sing about a running horse
One imagines what I mean
Yet all the horses thus dreamed in minds
Would be different if then seen
Yet with all these coded sculptures
Of such variance there is no trace
For the language has precision
With meaning exact in space
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
On each tile near the construction point
Some symbols or some text
Say how the point set out in space
Is to be applied next
For simple codes which one may learn
Show how the points combine
To form imagined sculptures
That are solid in the mind
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
An index number for each such point
That thus lies in mid-air
Means that a joining line is drawn
To the one below, if there:
Other lines can be produced
And through the air they go
Use j and then the relative address
Of an index point below
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
The language also specifies spheres
Circles and ellipses are there
With commands to fill and to rotate
Making sculptures in the air
Translations and transparency
Even effects in time
Producing sculptures which one can dream
And touch with hands in mime
Sculptures of imagination
Three dimensions in the mind
Coded tiles upon a plane
And a language which entwines
Virtualanto
Sculptures in the mind
Three dimensions
Of a different kind
Sing of sculptures
That are not really there
Coded tiles upon a plane
Sculptures in the air
(Coded tiles upon a plane)
(Sculptures in the air)
[VIR....tualanto]
[THREE.... dimensions]
[SING.... of sculptures]
Song lyrics and creative setting written by William Overington
Copyright 1998 William Overington