The Insomniac Penman

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  I come from water,   from being fluid. I come from wanting the whole ocean, and from having to settle for a single raindrop. I come from an island, nowhere special, just a rock in the sea  with little piles of memories, like sandcastles sitting on the shore. I come from angry sleepless nights, from not knowing quite what I want, from tossing and turning, and from first day anxiety. I come from quarantine, from a virus that took away my fifth-grade year But I didn’t mind so much after a while There weren’t too many others like me anyway. Most of all, I come from blank paper, my best friend. When All the others sleep he listens, And when I am quiet he talks.

  The Atrium is a room that I dream about.  It is without walls or a roof, only sky.  The door is just a little stretch of sand, and some reeds sticking up out of the ground, and everything outside is just endless water.  I can wade through the door and out into the ocean,  and once I let myself sink far enough down,  I don’t have a body to worry about.  I leave myself scattered in the sand,  and wait for the sun to come up.

Add Zero Adapted by William Helms from The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice *** Dedicated to Elmer Rice: I am terribly sorry for mutilating your perfect script. The screen is completely black. A slow human voice begins counting “one, two, three, four, five, six” and continues. Gradually, it fades out and is replaced by a mechanical voice, which gets faster louder, and harder. More voices overlap with it, reading news articles, web addresses, presidential speeches, everything. Some of the voices are backward or distorted. The voices become louder, quicker, and more aggressive until a loud bang goes off and they are suddenly silent. Scene one. We see Mr. Zero’s eyes open. He looks around. He is in a break room with all his co-workers discussing whatever accountants do idk. An annoying electric hum fills the office  Title card: ADD ZERO Shot of Mr. Zero’s nameplate on his desk Mr. Zero sits at a desk opposite Daisy Daisy  Three ninety-eight, forty-two cents,  Zero  Ey, spee...