OMMMMMM: A Collection of Plays and Monologues

Hugh Fox
World Audience (2006)
ISBN 1934209260
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (1/07)

Hugh Fox is an accomplished author.  He’s authored several books, including his own personal memoir, “Way, Way Off the Road.”  This release is a unique book filled with plays and monologues.  Fox is a renowned poet   He has aspirations for being a playwright.

In Hugh Fox’s “OMMMMMM: A Collection of Plays and Monologues,” he has tackled a number of topics.  Many of these topics might be considered taboo or at the least touchy.  He’s mentioned men urinating, homosexuality, wearing make up, being Jewish, being African American and growing older.

The monologue I enjoyed most was the one on aging.  He adeptly describes pre-menopausal symptoms as though he has lived them.  There comes that time when we look in the mirror and realize that we don’t really know that person looking back at us.   Fox tackles one of my greatest fears in his monologue XV, loss of memory. 
 
Hugh Fox describes a woman after the “sexual revolution.”  She looks back remembering two abortions.  “I just needed sperm, and then once I was pregnant I was Saint Catherine of Sienna…see, I said “programmed”…as if there some sort of purpose in it all, everything on track, all is right with the world, planned… and then an asteroid hits the earth and there’s the Pacific Ocean, or ten thousand people are killed in India or Guatemala.”  “IN THE BEGINNING WAS CHOAS AND CHOAS WAS GOD AND”  “That’s the way I’d like to be, as calm as a cold pancake, a plate of yogurt raisins, a dead light bulb, the mountains around Paradise, California after the kind of snow the Donner Pass people were snowed in by, before they died an what’s hi-name started eating them.”

Hugh Fox’s style is unique.  The subjects that he discusses are done so irreverently.  He uses humor and a touch of sarcasm to make his points.  The cover of this book is prefect for what lies inside.  The buss painted three colors with graffiti, a peace sign and a smiley face hints that the author was once a hippie.  I suspect there is much symbolism in this book that I did not quite understand.  There were several pieces that I did enjoy, as I stated the ones on aging were poignant.  I recommend “OMMMMMM” to those that would like to explore the mind of a hippie and to those who would like to look at social issues through a different perspective.

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