MMP #112: Lenient Grain with Verdant Palsied Kernels

LENIENT GRAIN WITH VERDANT PALSIED KERNELS

Equipment:
large table
chair
3 squares seasoning foil ca. 3”x3”
metal flavour-spatula (large enough to accommodate foil squares)
square of light-blue felt ca. 9”x9”
funnel
clear bowl
rectangle of heating fur ca. 8”x16”
clear insulation film
2 holding saucers
neutral tissues
medium pot (with handle)
large basin
moisture sieve
drying pad ca. 2”x3”
plastic wedge supports (oral)
wooden or clear blending paddle
square of cardboard large enough to cover bowl or pot
hypo-rural syringe
4 cotton balls (preferably two pink and two yellow)
pair synthetic custodial gloves
metal evacuation tongs
sound bin

Abbreviations:
s sound(s)
B breath
m mouthful
L lungful

Process melodies and motions:
All process melodies, ex. sweltering mel #43 [11B; glowing embers] to be devised by performer for duration (in this case, 11B) and in manner described. The terms “sing” and “melody” can have almost any meaning.

Process motions should also be devised by the performer. These motions are prosecuted using any part or parts of either/both hand(s) and/or arm(s).

Workspace disposition:
Prior to preparation, two activity sites (each large enough to accommodate pot or bowl) should be established within the tabular workspace and delineated with pink ribbon.

When equipment is discarded, it should be placed in the sound bin.

Directions:

Initiate broth
1. Create seasoning shapes. Recognise the vast sonic apothecary situated in your mind, with its shelves stretching upward into eternity, packed with vials, tubs, jars, pots and bottles, tinctures and concentrates of all medicinal s. Feel the charged molecules waiting to find new ingredients, the neutral crackling of the air between these distillates. Retaining a mental foot-hold in the apothecary, pick up a square of seasoning foil and place on the flavour-spatula, holding the spatula submissively before mouth. Contract entire facial region while inhaling 1B nasally, scuttling liquidly through the shelves to find the embodiment of richness and succulence, then spew 2m clotted s onto foil. Lower flavour-spatula bloatedly to table, fold foil up into square and heave onto light-blue felt. Position second square of foil on spatula, and raise queasily to mouth-level. Inflate entire facial region while inhaling 1B nasally, hold until a state of waxen congestion is found and tested, then plop 3m of greasy saline s onto foil. Float flavour-spatula to table (taking care not to let s drool off), fold square and transfer to felt as before. Sit third square of foil on spatula, and bring to mouth disdainfully. Harden face over 1B, settle mouth in firm line and allow ancient frustrations to huddle internally, smashing bottles, hurling jars and stamping vials from shards to glassy dust. When this acrid perfume stings your nostrils, spit 1m bitterly disappointed s onto foil. Drop flavour-spatula disenchantedly to table, fold square and dump lumpenly on felt. Discard spatula.

2. Broth. Place funnel in bowl, and situate face in funnel-mouth. Dam own mouth with lips, circling and poking tongue through oral cavity, smelling the spring thaw in the air and limbering up for the coming flood over 4B. Suddenly effect oral rupture and eject 6L of transparent neutral white fluid s into bowl, allowing each wash of s to cascade to calm. Discard funnel, plant hands on either side of bowl, lower face and provide noiseless open-mouthed cloud-cover for 14B (establish various cirrus, alto-cumulus and nimbo-stratus striations). Stand, and lift sheet of light-blue felt to bowl. Shove and nudge seasoning shapes into the bowl. Discard felt and prosecute dissolving motions over 7B, outlining real and imaginary constellations above bowl. Intermittently establish additional cloud-cover. Park bowl carefully in site 1.

3. Produce and chop. Coquetteishly, take up heating fur and smooth flat on table with palms of hands over 4B. Pause for 1B, then roll fur into loose tube, cocoon in insulation film and coyly swathe neck with tube. Holding fur snugly around neck, sing sweltering mel. #43 [6B; glowing embers]. When sweltering is achieved, remove fur, discard insulation film, unroll fur, fold in half, and slide into site 2. Recess for 4B, then position the two saucers on left side of table, draw spine and stomach in until body is rigid, and lean woodenly over saucer to the left, peering down over face. Seep 1m tallow s onto the saucer, then swivel stiffly to right saucer and drool 2m smeary s onto it. Relaxing body, prosecute functional motions, directing contents of the saucers to the pot as if traffic cop. Grasp pot-handle cheekily in right hand, and jostle and dance pot jerkily, letting it flirt with site 2 and gradually come to a rest on the heating fur over 6B. When pot is firmly bedded, wipe hands on neutral tissue. Discard tissue and saucers and pause for 4B, eyeing bowl at site 1, then snort irritably and give in, prosecuting a few dissolving motions at site 1.

Grain Work
4. Provide granular. Abandoning bowl and pot to their innate processes, shift attention to large basin, sieve and drying pad. Process and frame them with your hands, then sing pestling mel. #14 [8B; dry; chalky dust, powder clouds, talc clumps]. Blast work-area with a few parched gusts of sandy air, stripping layers of skin and irritating eyes. Abruptly attempt self-suffocation by holding drying pad over mouth, blast 2m screams into pad, then wipe inside of sieve with pad in 7 thin moves, abrading all moisture. Reverse pad, press over mouth, embed 1m bleaching s in pad, then stroke outside of sieve with pad over 4 broad moves, disposing of any remaining fibres. Nestle sieve in basin and allow lull to atomise internally for 4B. After hearing the dessicated ticking of a clock marking the bitter segments of humanity, finally change position and methodically demonstrate 3L brittle clicking granular s into sieve. Rest for 2B, then discard sieve and pad. Imbibe fluids if necessary.

5. Introduce granular. A new day dawns. Insert plastic wedge-supports in mouth. Take pot to one side, and whisper a hushed explanation to the pot, giving muffled information about the coming procedure and answering any questions that may arise. When the congress has been satisfied, remove and discard wedge-supports and secrete pot on table near basin. Over at least 12B, gradually and methodically introduce the granular s from the basin to the pot, subduedly mumbling the arrival of various grain-seed dignitaries, diplomats and families in the standard toast-master approved order. Use a blending paddle to softly and faithfully trace the ground plans of 17th-century fanciful ornamental gardens of your choice on the floor of the pot as you effect the introductions. When all granular s have been introduced to pot, stand back, transfer pot to site 2, discard basin and paddle, and spend a few moments listening to the tinny laughter and socialization of the grain.

6. Suffuse granular with broth. Locate cardboard and place over the bowl, pressing cardboard onto bowl with right hand. Independently jitter and invigorate left hand for 4B, then use it to mischievously slosh the bowl around, forcing the bowl to trace the figure-skating patterns of a tiny ice-capable mouse on the table for the duration of a verse of a garish 1980s synthesizer hit of your choice. Allow bowl to come to a halt and broth to settle, then transfer cardboard to pot. Press cardboard (in its lid-like incarnation) down firmly on pot, invert pot with a swift motion and secure on top of bowl in site 1, maintaining contact with pot-handle throughout. Pause for 1B and intone a silent table-cloth whipping prayer, then remove the sheet of cardboard rapidly, ensuring that the pot does not fall into the bowl. Swivel pot from wrist (as if nursing a chocolate baby through melted caramel) slowly from side to side while singing suffusing mel. #5 [4B; falling, melting, embracing, disappearing], maintaining swivel beyond melody for an additional B. Discard pot and cardboard. Conclude by masking bowl with clear insulation film.

7. Verdant injection. Locate syringe, remove plunger, and bring barrel to lips. Bring to mind an idyllic leafy forest scene, possibly with a dawdling velvet-pelted fawn. Shafts of dusty golden light gloss the bucolic peace of this alternate Arcadia. Concentrate intensely. When this sylvan paradise has been established internally, gather its pollen-filled climes into your lungs, soaking up the pungent earthy air through sense-osmosis, and sing sap-rising mel. #6 [1B; pastorally ripe, green-splintered and abounding] into the barrel of the syringe. With the fumes of this oasis still redolent in your nostrils, mindfully insert the plunger in the syringe and depress half-way. Set syringe reverently on blue felt. Utilise a neutral tissue to swab any excess rustic drool from your lips; discard tissue.

8. Hypo-Verdant Insertion. Use neutral tissue to establish sterile site around bowl, then discard. Grasping a pink cotton ball to mouth, fasten 1m scouring s to it. Distance cotton bowl to arm’s length and focus attention on insulation film covering bowl. Use a maximum of 17m air-radar gusts to track and lock on injection site, which should be located about 2” south-east of the centre of the film. Dab the injection site tentatively with the cotton ball, discard ball, and pierce the insulation film at injection site with the syringe. Inject the contents of the syringe into the bowl over 5B, oozing its goo-like weight heavily into the bowl. When spent, remove and discard syringe. Embed 1m astringent s in second cotton ball (yellow) and perch ball delicately on puncture hole. Maintain ball-site contact for 4B, then discard ball.

9. Palsy. Evacuate bowl from site 1 and isolate in centre of table. Bring seat to table and sheath hands in synthetic custodial gloves. Sit at table with feet flat on floor and arms resting gently on table, straight in front of your torso. Regard bowl with keen eye, ask a few innocuous questions, then grasp bowl between hands, keeping elbows and a surfeit of arm in contact with table-surface. Begin massaging and squeezing the bowl, moving fingers minimally and keeping hands in place, increasing pressure gradually over 11B until white-knuckle state is achieved. While maintaining and continuing painful yet muffled massage pressure, sing palsying mel. #12 [9B; mangling and enervating, low with occasional bowel-shatteringly ominous retorts]. Upon conclusion of melody, continue massage for 1B then sharply deflate and still arms. Witness your weight floating back to ground, limbs de-acidifying. Mutter and whimper to self for 7B, keeping body completely still.

10. Isolate and serve. Put a firm halt to any vestigial feelings of self-pity. Rise from chair with renewed vigour, peel off and discard gloves, then stand before table and remove insulation film from bowl, draping it on table. Emit 10B clinically-accurate incision s while hovering tongs over bowl, using surgically precise swoop-and-recover motions to remove each piece of foil from the bowl. Drop the pieces of foil on the film, then ball up and discard. Sequester individual remaining cotton balls in each hand and wipe rim of bowl in contrasting directions for 3B. Discard balls, swab hands with neutral tissue (discarding tissue afterward), then sprinkle 3m pungent bitter s over the bowl. Serve.