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STORY PIECE I
Find someone you don’t know and have them tell you a story.
HELPING PIECE
Every time you meet someone for a whole week, imagine you are going to fall in love with them. Choose what you would say to the person you loved very dearly, if you knew you were meeting them for the first time, and say it to strangers. Say it in the form of a question. Ask, “Can I help?”
TENT PIECE I
Bring someone you love to sleep in a tent with you. Sleep six feet apart on army cots. Be sure to maintain this distance. When you are certain they are asleep, whisper something for them to remember in the morning. In the morning, do not ask if they remember.
TENT PIECE II
Live in a tent with someone you love for many months. Sleep six feet apart on army cots. Be sure to maintain this distance. Wait for them to fall asleep first. When they are asleep, watch to see if they are dreaming. If they are dreaming, try to dream with them. In the morning, do not ask what they were dreaming.
FOOD PIECE
Put food onto the plate of someone that you love very much.
SHOWER PIECE
Stand in the shower singing. Do not stop singing. Stand in the shower singing until someone comes to sing with you.
READING PIECE I
Have someone send you a book in the mail. When you receive the book, begin to read. Read only when you should be doing something else. When you have finished a page, rip it out and give it to someone that you love. When they have finished, have them give it to someone that they love. Do not stop until the whole world has read a piece of the book.
RECORD PIECE
Break one record over your head, then another. Have your friend do this too. Do not stop until you have broken all the records you can see. As you are breaking them, imagine that you can hear all the songs imprinted on them playing at once.
MARRIAGE PIECE
Find someone who you used to love a very long time ago. Remember what it was like when you were in love. Imagine a life with them. Imagine that you want to marry them, and ask them. Do not ask them unless you know they will refuse.
NAME PIECE
Think of the name of someone you love very much. Hold their name in your mouth like candy for a whole month. Share it with no one else, not even them.
CONFESSION PIECE
Think of something you would like very much to say to someone. Hold it in your mouth for a week. For a year. Tell no one. Hold it there until it starts to hurt.
STORY PIECE II
Find a stranger who doesn’t speak your language. Tell them a story.
HAND PIECE I
Chose a bone in your hand, a small one, and break it. Do not tell anyone that you have broken it. Hold your hand close to you, and do your best not to be noticed. Do not touch anyone until someone notices that you have hurt your hand. Do not touch them, but allow them to touch you.
HAND PIECE II
Find someone you love and hold their hand like they have broken it.
JOKE PIECE
Make a joke. Find something in yourself that you have never said aloud and make a joke out of it. Do this many times. Make a joke out of something that makes you afraid. Make a joke out of something that makes you sad. Do not do this with malice. Do this with love. Make a joke to the person you love. Wait for them to laugh.
STORY PIECE III
Tell someone you love a story about something that didn’t happen. Make sure you wait until they ask, “Then what happens?” before you finish the story.
FURNITURE PIECE
Find an empty room, and fill it with furniture. Bring in as much furniture as you can find. Stay awake a very long time. When you have been up for thirty-six hours at least, begin to climb the furniture. Walk all the way around the room without touching the floor.
STORY PIECE IV
Find someone very young to tell a story to. Tell them a story they have never heard before. Choose one that has been told many times before, but by people other than you. Make sure it is your first time telling it.
STORY PIECE V
Tell a story to a stranger, but make sure someone you love is there to listen.
TEETH PIECE
Learn the way that someone else brushes their teeth. Try to brush your teeth like that for a whole week.
STITCHING PIECE I
Find a stranger who has been hurt and stitch up their wound.
STITCHING PIECE II
Wear your favorite pair of socks until you have worn holes in them. Get a needle and thread. Stitch them up. Wear them again.
STITCHING PIECE III
Wait until someone you love has been hurt, then stitch up the wound.
STITCHING PIECE IV
Wait until someone you love has worn holes in their favorite pair of socks, then stitch them up. Return the socks to them, so that they can wear them again.
STITCHING PIECE V
Take a pair of socks from someone you love, and wear them often. Wear them until one of you has worn holes in them. Stitch them back up. Wear them again.
SHOE PIECE
Nail a shoe to the floor. Put it on. Try to walk.
READING PIECE II
Begin reading a book. When you find a book that you like very much, begin to rip its pages out one by one as you read. Give each page to someone you know. Do not read the ending of the book. Invite all the friends that have a page to one place. Build a fire with each page. Tell each other what you think the ending could have been. When the embers die down, bottle them, and have each person take some home. Keep the bottle near your bed for a year, and do your best to dream of the book every night. When a year has passed, meet again, and tell each other about your dreams.
COLOR PIECE
Find someone you love and find out their favorite color without having to ask. Wait until they are gone, then dye your hair this color. Dye your clothes this color. Gather a whole group of people and dye their hair, too. Dye their clothes. Make it so the whole world is this color. Wait until the person you love comes back to you. Greet them with a smile. Keep wearing this color as many days as you can. Wear this color for the rest of your life.
THEATER PIECE
Think of a play to do with the people you know. Do not put on the play. Keep thinking of other plays you could do. Talk about these plays. Begin to stage them, but do not tell anyone else when you are inhabiting a role and when you are not. Slip in and out of each role with ease. Do not stay in any one role for very long. Do this for a year. Do this for two years. Wait until all the plays have come to an end, then inhabit the role of the person you were before you staged the plays.
STITCHING PIECE VI
Find some fabric and it stitch it up as though it were a body in need of repair. Do this with the lights on. Make sure everybody is watching you.
LIST PIECE
Write a list of the names of people that you love. Write each of these people a list. Make them a list of the names of your childhood pets. Make them a list of the names of everyone you have kissed. Make them a list of the names of everyone you would like to kiss. Make them a list of the names of everyone whose lives they have saved. Make them a list of all the dates you wanted to kiss them. Make them a list of all the dates you fell in love with them, the first time and all the other times after that. Do not title the lists. Give them the lists, or burn them, and give them the ashes.
STITCHING PIECE VII
Send someone a love letter without any words in it. Sew the letter into a body. Sew the letter into your own body. Send it only to someone who will know how to read it.
DEATH PIECE
Find an institution that wishes you harm, and wait for them to declare you dead. After they have declared you dead, find a quiet place, like basement, a porch, or a van. Lie very still and imagine that you are dead. Wait until someone you loves comes and asks you to come back. When they ask, go with them.
STORY PIECE VI
Think of a story from your life. Think of different ways to tell it. Tell someone you love this story. Keep telling them this story until you have told them every way that you can think of.
NOTE PIECE
Imagine you have five minutes to say goodbye to someone you love. Imagine what it is you would tell them. Do not write it down.
STONE PIECE
Write your love with stones.
ENDING PIECE
Watch the end of something.
BEGINNING PIECE
Go back to the beginning. Tell the story again.
STORY PIECE VII
Find someone you don’t know and tell them a story.