Collaboration: Zöe and the Dictionary

Many years ago I had the good fortune to meet Zöe Dearborn. We met in grad school at CIIS in the expressive arts therapy program, and since then our friendship has grown an additional decade and a half of dimension to it. She’s a fantastic artist and musician, a powerful healer and a super wonderful person to be friends with.

One of the earliest ways we played together was to do a song collaboration, where the restriction we gave ourselves was that the song had to be completed in 1 sitting (a 1 session piece), and that the lyrics would have to include 3 words chosen at random from the dictionary.

Back then people used real dictionaries, so we opened one to 3 different pages and blindly put our fingers on the page to find our words. The words we found were: “gas meter”, “reactionary”, and “catheter”.

Here’s what we came up with that afternoon in San Francisco. I’ve always loved it, especially because we were studying Borderline Personality Disorder at the time.

My invitation to you: alone or with a fun collaborator, choose 3 words at random from the dictionary, and use them in the text for a song.

You can modify this frame by upping the number of words you must use, using a different type of book than a dictionary (for example, a novel with some lush words in it), or by changing the length of time you have to make the piece (5 minutes, all improvised? A week, for a more polished piece?).

Lyrics:

When you checked the gas meter, I didn’t know what to think. You untaped your catheter. I really needed a drink.

I came by to commiserate. Rehash, reply, and reiterate, but I’m not sad.

I was feeling reactionary when you like didn’t like my poem. You said I used the dictionary. But you were fucking wrong!

But I came by to pacify. You just called me borderline. But I don’t mind.

It’s true that you’re the sick one and you’re not at your best. I’d like to say I’m sorry, but you really need your rest.

I came by to say goodbye. But now I think I’ve changed my mind! But I’m not sure.

~~

Thumbnail image lovingly appropriated from Many: the Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Emily Sutton