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

 

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