She sits in the chair that faces the window, and eats cottage cheese and papaya for breakfast. I throw some rolled oats in a pot with some water. Stand at the stove and watch water boil. 

Morning, she says. How did you sleep?

Under the covers. Head on a pillow.

Just comes naturally, doesn't it. Smartass. Soon as your feet hit the floor.

It’s a gift, I say.

Give it back, she says. 

That papaya you're eating?

Want some, she asks.

No I don’t like papaya. Never have liked papaya.

What’s wrong with papaya?

It’s musky, I say. I don’t like musky fruit.

The oatmeal sticks to the bottom of the pot. I scoop what I can in a pink plastic bowl. 

Fine, she says. More papaya for me. So how did you sleep?

I don’t feel like I did. Had a terrible dream—nightmare really—I lived, for some reason, with John Cassavettes and the place was just crawling with…not

the toucan sat on his perch at the zoo

dark round berries in a pan at his feet

he took each one in the tip of his bill

and threw his head back

and most of the berries were lost to the ground

I watched him about half an hour or so

he tilted his head at each berry that fell

picked up some more and dropped most of them too

and after Muhammad Ali passed away

I thought of that bird and his pan and his perch

Epic: The Musical is an in-progress concept album and loose adaptation of The Odyssey. It is written/composed by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, who began the project in 2019 but first posted about it to the public in 2021.

Production is ongoing, and completed songs are released on story-arc clusters called "Sagas" while incomplete demos (usually sung by Rivera-Herrans himself) are released on Rivera's social media