Tiresias
Disability culture videopoem that recasts a Greek myth about bodily change, time and difference. At the center of the work are touch and kinesthesia, and the continual question many disabled people face: “What happened to you?”
Petra Kuppers (USA) & Sadie Wilcox (USA)
Tiresias. By The Olimpias, 2007
7:30min
Poetry: Jim Ferris
TRANSCRIPT:
Text:
TIRESIAS
An Olimpias Disability Culture Production
Audio:
The rivers are high now
Soon they will burst their banks
[Text: The rivers are high now]
Audio:
In rose light from above, in a long red cloth, a dancer turns, her ample body pulling.
[Text: Soon they will burst their banks]
Audio:
Travel new paths
Find new forms
[Text: Find new forms]
Audio:
Destroy and create
[Text: Destroy and create]
Audio:
Out with the old
Downstream
Downstream
The river is its path (repeated)
And downstream shall be upstream (repeated)
Now vapor
Now ice
[Text:
Out with the old
Downstream
Downstream
The river is its path
And downstream shall be upstream
vapor
ice]
Audio:
And the train tracks are long pulled up
[Text: And what a ride it’s been]
Audio:
Light skinned man and woman close, his hand, sharp angle, tenderly touches hair.
Audio:
Nothing lasts
Nothing lasts
[Text:
Nothing lasts
Nothing lasts]
Audio:
We last
We last
[Text:
Skin cells slough off
Replace
by new
and
they
die too]
Audio:
And they die too.
Audio:
Clay
Pots
Shards
Sand
[Text:
Clay
Pots Sand
Shards ]
Audio:
They are something else
We are something else
[Text:
We are]
Audio:
And no one tells the leaves to fall
No one
[Text:
leaves]
Audio:
No one
No one
Audio:
And no one tells the day to end
[Text:
Day end]
Audio:
No one
No one
[Text:
No one
No one]
Audio:
And no one tells the weather
And no one tells the air
And we can try all we like
They just don’t care
[Text:
We can try]
Audio:
Do you ever get tired of this body?
Audio:
It creaks
[Text: creaks]
Audio:
It groans
[Text: groans]
Audio:
It leaks
[Text: leaks]
Audio:
It moans
[Text: moans]
Audio:
It’s weeks since I felt like I used to
[Text: used]
Audio:
Try on one that’s new
[Text: or at least different]
Audio:
Or at least different
At least, to you
[Text: you]
Audio:
Dark skinned man and woman, he pressing close against her. She explores her face with her hand, rubs his bald head and brings a smile to his face. Arching together, cheeks together, close.
[Text: So we give marching orders to the sky]
Audio:
So we give marching orders to the sky
We lay claim to all that we see
If I can name it, then it’s mine
What’s that bird?
What’s that bird? (repeated)
[Text: What’s that bird?
What’s that bird?]
[Text: What happened to you?]
What happened to you?]
Audio: What happened to you?]
What happened to you?
[Text: I happened]
Audio:
I happened
I happened
And now I happen every day
And now I happen every day
[Text: And now I happen]
Audio:
And now I happen every day
[Text: And now I happen every day]
Audio:
And you don’t know what to say (repeated)
[Text: Let it happen]
Audio:
Let it happen (repeated)
Let me happen
Let you happen
[Text: Let me happen
Let you happen]
Audio:
Let us happen
Around us
Inside us
Surround us
Abide us
[Text: upon this flesh]
Audio:
Upon this flesh
Upon this earth
Upon this force
Audio
Around us (repeated)
Inside us (repeated)
Surround us (repeated)
Abide us (repeated)
[Text:
Around us
inside us
surround us
abide us]
Audio:
Around us (repeated)
Inside Us (repeated)
Surround Us (repeated)
Abide Us (repeated)
Let it happen (repeated)
Let us happen (repeated)
Let us happen now (repeated)
[Text: let it happen
happen now]
[Text: The curse of the future
it will not hold still]
Audio:
The curse of the future
It will not hold still
The curse of the past
It will not hold still
[Text: The curse of the past
It will not hold still]
Audio:
You can touch me now
[Text: You can touch me now]
Audio:
And when you wake up
[Text: When you wake up]
Audio: I will look like what you see
[Text: I will look like what you see]
Audio:
I will sing your fortune
And you will laugh
Though in time your organs
will huddle together for warmth
[Text: Though in time your organs
will huddle together for warmth]
Audio:
In time your cells
Will bounce to a new beat
[Text: In time your cells
Will bounce to a new beat]
Audio: Empty stage, red silk, rolling naked.
Audio:
You cannot explain
Why you lean the way you do
Why you taste the way you taste
[Text: Why you lean the way you do
Why you taste the way you taste]
Audio:
Why you choose to nourish
[Text: nourish]
CREDITS
Back to Tiresias main page
Back to The Olimpias