Top of the Rock for November 1999



A Shakespearean Rag
(A Techno-Parable)
by Frank Edler




                Photograph by Diego Meozzi
Hotspur:
Look there, York!
Cast thine eyes upon
the fair Plain of Salis-
bury! It hath always
had great truck with me.

York:
[aside] Methinks he doth
propose a queer sense
of trucking! Sirah, best
get thyself to a
nunnery!  [to Hotspur]
My Lord, it doth
present a truckly
aspect.

Hotspur
Mark the scene well,
York. Some awful                   
invention haunts
yonder celestial engine.

                                                                                               York:
                                                                           [aside] Truck and more                                                                           truck! When will this                                                                           metaphor end?
                                                                                                                     

Hotspur:
What, ho! How
now! a rat! This be
no Plain of Salis-
bury! And that no
Stonehenge! [rubbing
his eyes] What
mischievous sprite
hath cast a spell on
us? Our emerald isle
is no more!

York:  
Nay, nay, my lord!
The heavens are yet
the heavens! Thy
sight hath been
tricked to another
apparition, yet
Stonehenge doth still
stand before us!

Hotspur:
Canst thou cipher
this weird land? O, I                 
am bereft of dis-
course! My words
are as brittle as
yonder meadow and                 
will not bundle.They                   
will have no truck
with this carrioned
place.

York:
[aside] A pox on the
word 'truck'!  [to
Hotspur] Say no more,            
my lord! Methinks
crusaders have spoken            
of the Holy Land as
such a scorched
locality and --

                                                                                                    Hotspur: