Subject: Jade South
From: Christopher W. Thomas (creatician@poetic.com)
Host: dnb-as1s02.erols.com
Date: Wed Nov 19, 1997 at 3:52PM

Walked into the bathroom just now - what did I see?

But a cool little red plastic Buddha looking back at me
Filled with something called Jade East - an old cologne
Seems I've had it around since before I even got my home

It's been on top of the dashboard of several cars in the past
And then it was transferred inside sometime over the last
- Quarter of a century, I've now lived in this quiet stone house
Where I've hidden over the years - mostly, quiet as a mouse

And then, recently - a friend found it on a shelf in my bedroom
Carried it downstairs and put it prominently on fake sill at noon
And there it sat watching me as I made food and did the dishes
Until I got so fed up of looking at it, and thence I did dismiss it

Banished it to the bathroom downstairs here & placed on red shelf
So I could then use its aromatic contents after shaving, upon myself
And now I am amazed when I go in there and see it, and remember
It's actually been around probably for more than thirty past Novembers

For I had it in NYC when I lived there - it was poised on shelf over sink
And then I took it with me back to England when I flew there on brink
Of a nervous breakdown, - once things had all come to a nasty head
I needed to get away from the city which'd won (then lost) me, instead

And I packed up the Buddha along with clothes, scripts and photos
Flying to the south of the UK - where I could learn all about theater
On the boards, not in dusty classrooms or on the makeshift stages
Which had been the way of things in drama schools thru the ages

London beckoned - and so I did fall under its spell that early spring
And became part of a new repertory company - which really did ring
The chimes of my heart, as I became a paid actor for the very first time
Although the reality was - it was only a walk-on, and I had only one line

But it was Romeo and Juliet - the Bard's - perhaps - greatest - masterpiece
And even though the part was tiny ... I was part of a fantastic troupe, leased
For a short time - whilst we rehearsed two months in a hall near Westminster
And I loved every moment of it - even being taken for a ride daily at - poker

For so much of my time there was spent playing cards - not in any way, acting
Because a one-line walk-on doesn't need to do much but stay out of traction
And so - my time was paid just to be there and play their quite silly games
Just until the moment to walk out into the space and say my one line came

But I do remember this period pretty good ... for I wore the Jade East well
And one of my fellow actors said something about it one day ... it smelled
Of "melted butter" - and thus was somewhat off-putting to his very senses
And my continuing to wear it (whilst getting beaten at cards) was offensive

So I cut back on my use of the contents of this little red plastic Buddha
And found some other cologne - I think I switched to Faberge or it coulda
Been English Leather or British Sterling or one of those other Brit scents
Whatever it was - the nasty comments diminished and so I made amends

But I never did throw away my little red friend - and kept it all these years
And now I find myself looking back at that period fondly and thru my tears
For the actor I had been and always will be - never saw the light of day
Perhaps - because of that little bottle of Jade East - which got in my way

Christopher W. Thomas
2:50pm Wednesday November 19th, 1997