I don’t respect myself
I can’t respect anyone who respects me.
I can only respect someone who does not respect me.
I respect Jack
because he does not respect me
I despise Tom
because he does not despise me
Only a despicable person
can respect someone as despicable as me
I cannot love someone I despise
Since I love Jack
I cannot believe he loves me
What proof can he give?
JILL I am
frightened
JACK Don’t
be frightened
JILL I am
frightened to be frightened when you
tell me I ought not to feel frightened
frightened
frightened to be frightened
not frightened to be frightened
not frightened
frightened not to be frightened
not frightened to be not frightened
JILL I’m
upset you are upset
JACK I’m
not upset
JILL I’m
upset that you’re not upset that I’m
upset you’re upset
JACK I’m
upset that you’re upset that I’m not
upset that you’re upset that I’m upset,
when I’m not.
JILL You put me
in the wrong
JACK I am not
putting you in the wrong
JILL You put me
in the wrong for thinking you
put me in the wrong.
JACK Forgive me
JILL No
JACK I’ll
never forgive you for not forgiving me
She has started to drink
as a way to cope
that makes her less able to cope
the more she drinks
the more frightened she is of becoming a drunkard
the more drunk
the less frightened of being drunk
the more frightened of being drunk when not drunk
the more not frightened drunk
the more frightened not drunk
the more she destroys herself
the more frightened of being destroyed by him
the more frightened of destroying him
the more she destroys herself
JACK You are a
pain in the neck
To stop you
giving me a pain in the neck
I protect my neck by tightening my neck muscles,
which gives me the pain in the neck you are.
JILL My head
aches through trying to stop you
giving me a headache.
