A COINCIDENCE OF TASTE

by Ed Ballou

Copyright Ed Ballou, 2018 edballou@icloud.com

CHARACTERS:

ROBERT FROST - the famous poet

J.J. LANKES - the unknown lithographer

PR GUY - offstage public relations person

SETS:

Outside a rural railway station

Frost’s writing studio

A room in a convalescent hospital

TIME: different time intervals from 1923 - 1961

(LIGHTS RISE on a Lanke’s print, ‘The Star-

splitter’, as the set backdrop - JJ Lankes stands
alone outside a country railway station, satchel in
hand, scanning the road - the approaching
SOUNDS of the clip-clopping of a horse, and the
creaking of a buckboard, coming up the road)

FROST (OFFSTAGE)

(Reading from his poem, ‘The Star-splitter’)

“You know Orion always come up sideways.

Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,

And rising on his hands, he looks in on me

Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something

I should have done by daylight, and indeed,

After the ground is frozen, I should have done

Before it froze, and a gust flings a handful

Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney

To make fun of my way of doing things,

Or else fun of Orion’s having caught me.

"Has a man, I should like to ask, no rights

These forces are obliged to pay respects to?”

(SOUNDS of horse and buckboard stop offstage)

Hold, son - I’ll see if the train pulled in..

(ENTER FROST)

FROST

You Lankes?

LANKES

Frost?

FROST

I’ve seen your work..

LANKES

And I’ve read yours - inspired me to make a print of your poem, ‘Star-splitter’..

FROST

A print is but a poem in disguise - let’s hit the road, Lankes..

LANKES

Call me JJ..
(Looking offstage)

A buckboard? - no shiny Chrysler, or at least a Model A?

FROST

Because man invented something, are we obliged to use it?

LANKES

(Looking offstage)

Who's holding the reins?

FROST

My son - lives next to me - we’ll travel to The Gulley with him..

LANKES

The Gulley?

FROST

My farm..

LANKES

(Looking offstage)

I’d like to sketch that buckboard..

FROST

.. and I’d like to write a poem about it ..

(The SOUND of a train whistle)

.. but if we stay here longer, we’ll be enveloped in a cloud of steam..

LANKES

Never sketched steam, let alone carved it..

FROST

You can sketch and carve what you like at The Gulley..

LANKES

Where will I stay?

FROST

In my writing studio, which gives me such peace of mind..

LANKES

Could use some of that..

FROST

Sketching and carving - then what?

LANKES

Making prints, until I get one I like - I'm a perfectionist..

FROST

We should get along..

(Gesturing to the buckboard)

.. jump in!

LANKES

Where will I sit?

FROST

Next to my son..

LANKES

And you?

FROST

I’ll just hang on..

LANKES

(Looking offstage)

On that ledge on back?

FROST

Been on ledges before - grab your bag - let’s go!

(Lankes hoists his bag - FROST and LANKES EXIT

- the receding SOUND of the clip-clopping hooves,
as LIGHTS DIM on the print of ‘The Star-splitter’ -

LIGHTS RISE on Lankes’ print of ‘Vermont

Farmhouse‘ as a backdrop - Lankes carving a
piece of wood at a workbench in a wooden studio)

FROST (OFFSTAGE)
(Reading from his poem, ‘On a Tree Fallen
Across the Road’)
“The tree the tempest with a crash of wood
Throws down in front of us is not to bar
Our passage to our journey’s end for good,
But just to ask us who we think we are

Insisting always on our way so

She likes to halt us in our runner tracks,
And make us get down in a foot of snow
Debating what to do without an axe.”
(ENTER FROST - watches Lankes)

FROST
Carvin’ what?

LANKES
(Pauses, carving)
Cypress.

FROST
From The Gully?

LANKES
Fell in the road, moved it to the bank - took some wood..
 4
FROST
Fell where?

LANKES
Bend in the road - old cypress - potato vine climbed up - tree couldn’t shake it - vine
pulled the old cypress down..

FROST
Tree’s put to good use - you carvin’ it..
(Lankes says nothing, keeps carving)
Got oil? - goin’ to a powwow - publisher wants a book of poems - only got one so far, a
long poem..

LANKES
(Pauses, carving)
Should sell - you bein’ you - what’s the name of the poem?

FROST
“New Hampshire”.. figure that’s the name of the book..

LANKES
.. bein’ as this is New Hampshire..

FROST
Want to carve the decorations?

LANKES
Maybe - gotta read your poem first..

FROST
I’ll recite some..
(LIGHTS DIM on ‘Vermont Farmhouse’ -
LIGHTS RISE on Lankes' lithograph ‘New
Hampshire’ appearing as backdrop to the set)
“Apples? New Hampshire has them, but unsprayed,
With no suspicion in stem-end or blossom-end
Of vitriol or arsenate of lead,
And so not good for anything but cider.
Her unpruned grapes are flung like lariats,
Far up the birches out of reach of man.”

LANKES
(Pauses)
Need just one print for your poem?
 5
FROST
A print for the cover - and maybe three for inside..

LANKES
(Pauses, stops carving)
I’ll need oilin’ first..
(Goes to a wooden cupboard, takes down two
glasses and a bottle, sets them on the bench)

FROST
(Picking up bottle, looking at label)
Good bourbon..
(Pours two glasses)
You know it’s my favorite?
(Starts drinking whiskey)
What’s it all about, JJ?

LANKES
‘Bout a ring ‘round the moon - sketched it last night..
(Starts drinking whiskey)

FROST
Sketched where?

LANKES
Down the Gully, where the spring feeds the crick..

FROST
Thought that was you - went looking for a poem..

LANKES
Saw a badger on a log, diggin’ ants..

FROST
Saw an owl on the barn, huntin’ mice..

LANKES
Saw the mountain poke it’s head through the moon - made a print..

FROST
Saw the crick run down under the moon - wrote a poem..
(They drink)

LANKES
Spring’s slowed..
 6
FROST
Gonna dig it out..

LANKES
I’ll help..

FROST
Gonna pump water with that jenny..

LANKES
Still runnin’?

FROST
Needin’ gaskets..

LANKES
Cistern?

FROST
Still leakin’..

LANKES
Fix that, too..
(They drink)

FROST
Buck in the garden - ran the dog at it - had to shoot it..

LANKES
Why run the dog?

FROST
Buck caught a horn in the fence - thought to scare it out..

LANKES
(Pauses)
Buck didn’t deserve that..
(They drink)

FROST
Hired Mack down the road, fix the plumbin’ - showed two hours late - land-time..

LANKES
Better land-time than town-time..
 7
FROST
They got it backwards - folks leavin’ farm for a town..

LANKES
Can’t see a sunset for a fence..

FROST
Why I bought The Gully..
(Frost picks up the wood carving)
What’s this mountain doin’?

LANKES
Gettin’ its stillness under snow..

FROST
.. its essence..

LANKES
.. its thingness..

FROST
Needin’ more oil..
(Frost fills their glasses)

LANKES
When’s the meetin’?

FROST
What meetin’?

LANKES
Publisher powwow..

FROST
Can’t start without me - my poetry..

LANKES
.. their publishing house..

FROST
.. I’m on land-time..
(They drink)
 8
FROST
How you carve those things? - must be easy, you bein’ an artist..

LANKES
How you write them things? - must be easy, you bein’ a poet..

FROST
Why think it easy for me?

LANKES
Success, money, all that..

FROST
Wasn’t always all that - twenty years was all nothin’ - bought a farm after marriage -
farmin’ during day, writin’ at night - after ten years, farm wasn’t workin’ and publishers
weren’t talkin’ - sold the farm, went to England - not workin’, but writin’- English poets
took notice, talked a publisher into puttin’ out my poems - got some money and got
some notice - came back to America - now, those publishers wanted to talk, and put out
more of those poems - sold ‘em out - kept writin’, got teachin’ jobs, went on lecture
tours, made enough money to buy The Gulley - don’t worry ‘bout much now, 'cept my
reputation..
(Pauses, he pours another two shots)
JJ, we could make a book, a small one - half poems, half prints - split the proceeds -
what do you think?

LANKES
(Pauses)
Got poems for it?

FROST
Write some later - gotta write poems for this book, ’New Hampshire’ ..

LANKES
When you get ‘em writ, I’ll make prints for your poems..

FROST
(Pauses)
What’ll we call this book of ours?

LANKES
You’re the poet..

FROST
(Pauses)
Why don’t we call it .. ‘A Coincidence of Taste’ - that’s the reason we get along..
 9
LANKES
(Pours two more shots, raises glass in a toast)
‘A Coincidence of Taste’!
(They toast)
At least you have a reputation, RF - I got nothing - a few woodcutters know me, but the
public? - to them, I’m a nobody, an unknown - I make these prints nobody buys..
(They toast and down their shots)
Am I making them for myself? - always I’m stressed - broke and borrowing, that’s me -
you don’t have to worry, RF - you have money - the wolf’s not at your door, he’s at mine
- and don’t forget, I never asked for money, because I know you won’t give it - that’s all
right - as long as you respect me and my art - we’re both artists! - of different sorts, but
artists still - that’s why we get along - because we have a.. what do you call it? - “a
coincidence of taste” - yes, that’s what we’ve got.. “a coincidence of taste..”

FROST
(Pauses)
I help you in other ways, JJ.. if I gave you money, it would change our friendship - we’d
no longer be equals - you’d be indebted to me..
(Pauses)
How you make your prints?

LANKES
How you write your poems?

FROST
Easy - bet you could write a poem..

LANKES
Bet you could make a print..

FROST
Bet?

LANKES
Bet.

FROST
Bet what?

LANKES
My print..

FROST
Against what?
 10
LANKES
The Gulley..

FROST
My farm against your print?

LANKES
A good print, new print..

FROST
Print of what?

LANKES
Scene from The Gully..

FROST
Tell you what.. bet I can teach you write a more passable poem, than you can teach me
make a passable print - you put up a poem, a poem you write - against a print, a print I
make - winner takes rights to both..

LANKES
What’s passable?

FROST
(Pauses)
We’ll let Mack decide..

LANKES
Mack knows nothin ‘bout nothin’..

FROST
Makes him impartial.. deal?

LANKES
(Pauses)
Deal..
(They shake hands, drink)

FROST
(Takes out a pencil)
Who goes first?

LANKES
As a poet, I’m the worst..
 11
FROST
(Giving him the pencil)
The start of a poem - a point for me..

LANKES
Not fair..

FROST
Fair and square - a rhyme - two points..

LANKES
Not a poem..

FROST
Don’t you grouse, a poem in my house - three points..

LANKES
A poem’s about something..

FROST
A poem’s not about something - it’s about some thing - four points..

LANKES
Wordplay’s not writin’..

FROST
Why keep fightin’? - ‘nother rhyme - five points..
(Lankes pauses with pencil in air)
.. look, JJ - start off with a notion..

LANKES
(Pauses, pencil in hand)
My notion is I can’t write - one reason I print..

FROST
.. and I can’t print - one reason I write..

LANKES
Printing’s easy - try it.. first make a sketch..

FROST
I sketch with words..
 12
LANKES
(Giving pencil back to Frost)
Try a pencil..
(Putting a thin block of wood in front of Frost)
Draw a line on the wood, don’t write it..

FROST
(Pauses)
A line about what?

LANKES
Look out th’ window..
(Frost turns, looks out the window)
.. what do you see?

FROST
Tree against the moon..

LANKES
Sketch a tree line..
(Frost pauses, sketches, pauses)

LANKES
Now what you see?

FROST
(Looking out)
Tree throwin’ shadows down the hill..

LANKES
Sketch ‘em..

FROST
(Turns back to wood, pauses)
How you sketch a shadow?

LANKES
Sketch somethin’ - somethin’s better than nothin’ - you can toss it, change it, or keep it..
(Frost draws something)
Put some dark in her for shadow..
(Frost shades)
Again, right angles..
(Frost draws and shades)
Now you got a tree - draw a circle ‘round it..
(Frost draws)
 13
LANKES (Con’t.)
Now you got a moon lightin’ up your tree..

FROST
(Holds up block of wood, frowns)
What now?

LANKES
Carve her..

FROST
With what?

LANKES
Carvin’ knife..
(Gives him a wood carving knife - Frost takes
the knife, holds it awkwardly - Lankes watches
him - takes knife back)
.. like this..
(Lankes takes knife, demonstrates, hands it
back - Frost grasps it)
.. line up your block, grain runnin’ away..
(Frost lines it up)
.. dig in your knife..
(Frost digs in the knife)
.. not too deep.. keep up pressure, push away..
(Frost awkwardly carves a line - holds knife up)

FROST
How’s that?

LANKES
(Pauses, looks at it)
Carve another line..
(Frost laboriously carves a second line)
.. try havin’ fun..
(Frost attempts a smile, carves)
.. keep carvin’, get ready to ink..
(Frost carves, Lankes watches him - Frost gets
knife stuck, gets frustrated, throws down knife)

FROST
Bet’s off..
 14
LANKES
That’s what I thought, after tryin’ to write that poem..

FROST
We’re better off oilin’..
(He pours another two shots, they down their
shots as LIGHTS DIM on ‘New Hampshire’ -
LIGHTS RISE on the Lankes’ print ‘New
Hampshire - Grace Notes (Road)’ - Lankes
meticulously carving a block of wood)

FROST
(Offstage reading from “Looking for a Sunset
Bird in Winter”)
“The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.

In summer when I passed the place

I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it sweet and swift.”
(A pause, ENTER FROST - he goes past
Lankes, sits down heavily, saying nothing)

LANKES
(Pauses, looks over at him)
Got in last night - wondered where you were..
(Frost says nothing)
Hey! - saw a big ‘ol possum comin’ down the hill - spooked the cats like from another
planet - hummingbird come down and darted at the possum, drove him up the hill - I ran
for my sketchpad - too late! - possum waddled away - hummingbird flew off, too..

FROST
(Pauses)
My own sweet hummingbird flew away last week..

LANKES
(Pauses)
Elinor?
 15
FROST
Shouldn’t had that operation, heart too weak - but seemed fine, after - then we went to
Florida a couple of days, settled on a place to buy - keep this place, just go south to
warm up - but soon as we got back, her heart gave out, and she just.. passed away..
(A pause, both men silent - Lankes has
resumed carving)
JJ.. I don’t know what to do..

LANKES
(Short pause)
Keep writing!

FROST
(Longer pause)
Writing’s not important, now…

LANKES
As important to you, as wood-carvin’s to me - art keeps us going..

FROST
(Pauses)
You didn’t just lose your wife..

LANKES
(Pauses)
Sort of, I did..
(Pauses)
Met somebody, RF - fellow artist, a painter - she’d drive me places to sketch - we kept in
touch and we sort of.. hit it off..

FROST
(Pauses)
What about Edie?

LANKES
We’ve.. separated..

FROST
(Pauses)
Elinor always wondered why you never brought Edie up here..

LANKES
You know me - a loner and a kicker! - kicking at everyone and everything, turning the
whole world against me, including Edie - the world’s out of step, RF - I’m the only one in
 16
LANKES (Con’t.)
step! - now, Edie’s with the kids, and it’s just me and Peggy.. do me a favor? - we need
a place to get away - I want to bring Peggy up to The Gulley..
(Pauses)
How ‘bout it?

FROST
Don’t know, now things have changed..

LANKES
Later?

FROST
Just don’t know..
(Pauses)
Elinor wouldn’t approve of you and Peggy..

LANKES
But Elinor..
(Pauses)

FROST
.. flew away, my sweet hummingbird flew far away..
(Lankes gets up, takes down the bottle, pours
two glasses of whiskey, gives one to Frost)

LANKES
Need some fortififyin’..
(Both men sip in silence for a bit)

FROST
Before this happened, thought I’d found something good for you..

LANKES
‘Bout given up on anything good ever happenin’ to me..
(Pauses)
.. well, what is it?

FROST
Teaching position - friend of mine’s a professor at Wells in Aurora, upstate New York -
he put in with the college to fund a position for an artist - a real artist! - one year at a
time - told him he could fill it with you - ‘course, only if you want it..
 17
LANKES
(Pauses)
Academia..
(Pauses, carving)
.. you know I’m not a joiner..

FROST
It’s a steady check..

LANKES
(Pauses, carving)
I barely made it out of high school - only went to trade school, then landed a sketching
job in some little patent place - never had college - but did get to art school - made
sketches and drawings - settled on lithography, making prints - got me a little studio in
Gardenville, outside Buffalo - made a lot of prints, but never a lot of money - even had
to trade prints for doctor visits - that doctor got a couple dozen good prints over the
years - but academia? - wouldn’t fit in with those people, even the arty ones - nothing
wrong with them, but they only study art - I make it..

FROST
They’d leave you alone - just ask you to lecture a little - the rest of the time you’d sketch
and carve and make your prints - Aurora’s a pretty little town in the middle of nowhere -
you could sketch in the country!

LANKES
(Pauses)
RF, you’ve helped me in the past - I trust you - we’re good friends and collaborators..
(Pauses, carving)
.. you really think I should rejoin the rat race by taking this job?

FROST
Even a rat has to eat, JJ - and you could bring Peggy - leave Edie in Virginia with the
kids, just send her money - she’s been okay with that in the past..

LANKES
(Pauses, carving)
Then I’ll do it, jump back in the race - and to hell with the academics..
(Continues carving as Frost watches him -
LIGHTS DIM on ‘New Hampshire - Grace
Notes (Road)' - LIGHTS RISE on the Lankes
poster announcing Frost’s lecture - it’s the
backdrop to Frost standing at a podium,
reading from his poem, ‘Fire and Ice’)

 18

FROST

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire,

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

(Applause)

Thank you - now I must close and catch my train - but like a heifer called to barn at sunset, I
bellow my plea: write your piece, do your art - or be forever muzzled!

(Applause)

LANKES

(At the back of the room)

Tell us, Mister Frost - is there an illustrator you favor for your poems?

(Frost goes to answer, but someone thrusts a

program at him - he signs it - more programs are
thrust at him - he signs them all with good humor)

PR GUY (OFFSTAGE)

What a question - Mister Frost uses many illustrators!

LANKES

(Looking offstage)

Another question - who invited Frost to lecture?

PR GUY (OFFSTAGE)

I invited him on behalf of the college..

LANKES

Did you make that poster behind Frost?

PR GUY (OFFSTAGE)

(Pauses)

No, I did not..

LANKES

But I did - and I arranged with Robert to lecture..

PR GUY (OFFSTAGE)

Who are you?

FROST

Thank you for coming!

(Signing a last program)

LANKES

JJ Lankes..

 19

PR GUY (Offstage)

Never heard of you..

LANKES

No one has - except for one..

(Calls out to Frost at the podium)

.. the poet himself, Robert Frost!

FROST

(Signing a last program)

Thank you - now, I really must catch my train for New Hampshire!

(Frost makes to exit - crowd SOUNDS)

LANKES

(Calling out)

RF! - wait - wait!

(Frost seems not to hear him, FROST EXITS)

PR GUY (OFFSTAGE)

Your poet has a short memory - all students - exit left!

(The SOUNDS of the crowd diminish, become

silent - Lankes is left standing alone in an empty
room as the LIGHTS DIM on his poster - LIGHTS
RISE on Lankes’ print “Apple Tree and Grindstone”
as the backdrop - Lankes meticulously carving a
block of wood)

FROST
(Offstage, reading from “The
Grindstone”)
“Having a wheel and four legs of its own
Has never availed the cumbersome grindstone
To get it anywhere that I can see.
These hands have helped it go, and even race;
Not all the motion, though, they ever lent,
Not all the miles it may have thought it went,
Have got it one step from the starting place.”
(A pause, ENTER FROST - he goes past
Lankes, sits down)

LANKES
(Pauses, looks over at him)
Got in late again, last night - wondered where you were..

FROST
Where’s Peggy? - I want to meet her..
 20
LANKES
Taking a walk - away from her demons! - depression and such - been a tougher go than
I thought, RF…

FROST
She going with you to Wells?

LANKES
(Pauses)
I’m not going back..

FROST
(Pauses)
Why not?

LANKES
(Pauses)
Wells heard I left my wife and my kids and took up with Peggy - became an issue -
anyway, it wasn’t working out - I felt like an island in a sea of ice - they didn’t like me,
and I didn’t much care - they’ll find somebody that thinks like them..

FROST
(Pauses)
I got you that position - your leaving makes me look bad, darkens my reputation.. but it’s
your decision - anyway, I have an idea - just bought some property in Vermont - two
houses in Concord Corners - one with a big studio and a view of a lake - you could
have it rent free for two years, start a studio for students - and when the stink of life
becomes too great, just take a dip in the lake and wash it all off - what do you think?

LANKES
(Pauses)
I know you’re trying to help, RF - but a big war has just started - and who knows when it
ends? - me and Peggy are livin’ in temporary quarters with a garden, ‘case the war goes
south, and we can’t get food - if I took your offer, it would just tie us down - we have to
be ready for anything! - even a cave in the mountains - the whole of humanity could be
livin’ in a cave! - who knows what will happen with this second world war?

FROST
(Pauses)
Just tryin’ to give you the break you never had..

LANKES
(Pauses)
I’ll think on it..
(Continues carving)
 21
FROST
Won’t be that many breaks - might take advantage of this one..
(FROST EXITS, LIGHTS DIM on ‘APPLE
TREE and GRINDSTONE’ - LIGHTS RISE on
Lankes’ print, ‘Mower” - Frost reads
offstage from ‘Mowing’)

FROST (Offstage)
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(ENTER LANKES, walking with a cane - he
slowly walks over to the work table, sits down,
picks up his carving knife, picks up an
unfinished wood carving, peers at it, holding it
up to his face, pauses, sighs, puts down his
carving knife, gets up, slowly creeps over to a
cabinet, pulls out a bottle, pours himself a
drink, sips it, staring at the audience)

LANKES
(To the audience)
Art! - what a mistress - she wants you to be faithful, yet favors who she wants..
(Sips)
That Frost - how does he do it? - any poem he writes, it sells - he’s made it, always had
it made..
(Sips)
.. maybe not always.. didn’t make it until he was forty - before that was like me - a
struggling artist! - at least, he wasn’t starving, owning that farm and such - I don’t know
why he didn’t give up - those American publishers didn’t know what a talent they had,
right under their nose! - but he kept on pushing - and don’t know why he went to
England, or how he knew those English poets - but they lobbied his case with an
English publisher - and that was his break, when he got his recognition - but had to go
elsewhere to get it..
(Sips)
.. at least he was recognized..
(Sips)
 22
LANKES (Con’t.)
.. came back to America, and everything he wrote turned to gold - got teaching jobs,
went on lecture tours, could afford a farm - now he’s known, a household word..
(Sips)
But why not me? - I’m as good as he! - I mean, my art - so, why did Dame Fortune smile
on him and not on me? - don’t I deserve a break?
(Drinks)
But art.. I’m chained to my mistress for life - couldn’t leave her if I wanted!
(Drinks)
Success is a calling - few are called and fewer chosen - and Frost! - was chosen..
(Drinks)
But why not me?
(ENTER FROST - he sees Lankes drinking,
goes over and pours his own drink - they drink
in silence for a moment)

FROST
Heard you’re having problems.. health problems..

LANKES
Had to go back to that doctor in Gardenville - trade him a print for a diagnoses - Doc
says I’ve got extreme hypertension, and something called arteriosclerosis - had an
incident, a few days ago..
FROST
(Pauses)
What kind?

LANKES
(Pauses)
Stroke.. just a small one..

FROST
That got you the cane?

LANKES
.. and got me these new eyes.. came in to do some work.. but, I can’t, RF, I just can’t..
see what I’m carving..
(Pauses)
.. not like your art - if you were blind, you could write a poem - just dictate it..

FROST
(Pauses)
JJ.. through all these years, through our coincidence of taste, there’s always been an
undercurrent.. you’re jealous of me, of my success! - but I can’t help it, just turned out
that way - and yes, I had something to do with it - kept writing through the lean years,
 23
FROST (Con’t.)
and finally something happened - the world read my poems and thought they were
good..

LANKES
(Interrupting)
Damn good!

FROST
In the eye of the beholder - the world gazes up at me, but at the same time can’t see
you at all - it’s not right, it’s not fair, but there it is..

LANKES
Dame Fortune..

FROST
You’re right - she smiled on me - gave me a big grin, I guess..

LANKES
.. and all I got was one weak smile..

FROST
What can you do?

LANKES
Nothing.. do what I can do..
(Drains glass, puts it down)
But can’t see so good, anymore - how do I work? - what do I do?

FROST
Promote your early work - at least you made art! - the masses appreciate art, but
haven’t an artistic bone in their bodies - be thankful art is in your bones..

LANKES
But I’m seventy-two! - at my age, I’m thankful I’m alive..

FROST
Stop feeling sorry - I’m ten years ahead of you..
(Frost takes Lankes by the arm, they slowly
creep out the studio - FROST and LANKES
EXIT - LIGHTS FADE ON Lankes print,
‘Mower’- LIGHTS RISE on Lankes’ print
“Winter“ as a backdrop - a room in a
convalescent hospital - in the middle, a bed -
 23
the near sideboard is down, a figure making
gasping noises in the bed)

FROST
(Reading offstage)
“Some may know what they seek in school and church,
And why they seek it there; for what I search
I must go measuring stone walls, perch on perch”
(ENTER FROST - he approaches the bed,
stands looking down at the figure)
JJ?
(No response)
JJ!
(No response)
Lankes!
(The figure slowly rolls over, peers up at him)
It’s me, RF..
(No response)
Frost!

LANKES
(Slowly)
..Robert?

FROST
They said you had another stroke, a big one..

LANKES
..R.. F..

FROST
(Pauses)
Came to see how you’re doing..

LANKES
..I’m.. doing..

FROST
We been friends a long time, JJ - came to tell you, we’re still great friends..

LANKES
.. great.. friends..
 24
FROST
All those years, all that oilin’, all those talks in the night - about the way the universe
turns, the way we don’t fit in, all that…

LANKES
..all.. that..

FROST
We thought we’d keep on forever..

LANKES
.. for.. ever..

FROST
I’m not doing well, myself - been sick this past year - just hanging on..

LANKES
.. hanging.. on..

FROST
JJ, you were dead-on about society - it is out of step! - you were the only one who was
in step - even I couldn’t step with you..

LANKES
.. with.. me..

FROST
Old friend, you were right - the world is out of kilter and people like you and me - we
artists - are duty-bound to tell the others what we’ve found - you with your prints and I
with my poems! - and I know I’ve had some success, while the world has failed to
appreciate you - but it’s the world’s loss - we’re still equals - we’ll always be equals..

LANKES
(Weakly)
.. always.. equals..

FROST
(Pauses, looks at Lankes - bends over him)
Lankes.. let’s curse it all to hell!

LANKES
.. curse.. it..
 25
(Frost watches him slowly lie back down
and close his eyes, be still - Frost touches his
hand to Lankes’ cheek for a moment,
straightens up)

FROST
Never did make that book - see what happens when we lag? - but now, the sand of time
has run out..
(Pauses, looks down at Lankes)
.. a coincidence of taste - that we had, JJ…
(LIGHTS FADE on “Winter” - LIGHTS RISE on
Lankes’ print, “Victorian Village - Ghost Tree“,
as the backdrop - Frost recites from his poem,
‘A Star in a Stone-boat’)
“The living come with grassy tread
To read the gravestones on the hill;
The graveyard draws the living still,
But never any more the dead.

The verses in it say and say:

The ones who living come today
To read the stones and go away
Tomorrow dead will come to stay.’”
(Frost looks down at Lankes lying still -
the LIGHTS DIM)

CURTAIN