Can I Get a Witness?
Bri Williams
Heat Rash
Between legs, a tail holding a switchblade with a wide-toothed mouth of blackened teeth.
All free things are broken and wilted.
String out of my forehead,
Rhino Horn grew out of my exposed...empty out the whole.
Every night is a sword released from stone.
Here, have it as a gift!
Carve it out in the center, leave a gaping pool of water.
She drank.
Whistle blower
Is cutting off your tongue like cutting off your clitoris? I could do my part without having to curtsy at the end. Holding up my flag with a twig, and I don’t mean to light up too fast. We offend you just by having one and supposedly you already knew what I was going to say.
He held one of my shoes and threw the other and I barked like a dog and chased it. He must have known i would get an ass whooping if I came home with one shoe. We banged all of our heads together and bit each other.
Tell me the reward; who tells stories that put victim to shame.
You must know me well. Never was mine because i was never there, but the masters had the knowledge to claim it.
Rise from the ashes as a metaling Phoenix, my sword is my penis.
Dispose of anything that can take me away from me. The way we love the reactions of dogs is the same way men love to get reactions from me. Many dogs are taken home and abused. You can look at a dog and tell through the way it might cower over a sight of a specific object or sound.
Time only heals when we forget, over the line that I crossed 7 years ago.
Many more lay in front of me waiting to be crossed but death won’t let it, death won’t let it.
The Riff raff (the ones who run the show)
Within the image of a holier woman, who is well spoken and relinquishes the engine to please others.
Ruptured eardrum to be as aloof as any man has the power to be.
If you think you have power, you are defeated.
We played the game to show them the love that they stole from us.
Feeling used
their own methods against them
A childish hand to fix the machine
Corruption by sitting in my punctured hair
Instead we submit to words, talking to fail and manipulate
Punishment to the facial structures that deem me unworthy of having one breath
“Obligated," it says, "on your name tag! Please educate and inform that status quo."
Untitled
The fool ponders his weep.
Race cars, checkers zip up the corners of my mouth
Pissing and hissing.
Cattle stamped.
It became a sin when the apple was picked from the tree.
Can open her. Am I being detained?
grays and
Pinned scales like citrine.
A shell. A cavernous emptiness.
Forget it. You can't define it.
When I was a kid, my father had this dog.
It started to get weak and sickly so he took it to the vet.
The doctor examines it and says...
...a maggot must've laid eggs in the dog's butt.
He says there's not much they can do.
The baby maggots have crawled up and started to grow...
...and eventually they're going to eat the dog alive from the inside out.
He says it should be put to sleep because it's an old dog, anyway.
But Father won't do it.
He takes it home.
He puts it on the bed.
He starts to reach up into the dog...
...picking out the maggots with his fingers, one by one.
It takes him all night, but he gets every last one.
That dog outlived my father.
You're not that tough, Maggie.
I can tell you're not that tough.
Excerpt from Addicted to Love (1997) script
✸
Bri Williams is a sculptor, poet, and video artist based in California.
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Curb Stomp, 2018. Wax, candy bones, candy fish, Christmas light bulbs, chewed gum, pillow sheet
Heat Rash, 2019. Poem
Ruby 2, 2016. Balloons, assorted objects, video
Whistle blower, 2016. Poem
Wise, 2018. Wax, soap
Sebben crudele, 2015. Yarn, hooks, video
The Riff raff (the ones who run the show), 2021. Poem
Ashes to Ashes, 2018. Glitter glue transfer on wall
Untitled, 2021. Poem
Ursula, 2021. Shot gun, dress, soap
BACK TO TOP
Can I Get a Witness?
Bri Williams
Heat Rash
Between legs, a tail holding a switchblade with a wide-toothed mouth of blackened teeth.
All free things are broken and wilted.
String out of my forehead,
Rhino Horn grew out of my exposed...empty out the whole.
Every night is a sword released from stone.
Here, have it as a gift!
Carve it out in the center, leave a gaping pool of water.
She drank.
Whistle blower
Is cutting off your tongue like cutting off your clitoris? I could do my part without having to curtsy at the end. Holding up my flag with a twig, and I don’t mean to light up too fast. We offend you just by having one and supposedly you already knew what I was going to say.
He held one of my shoes and threw the other and I barked like a dog and chased it. He must have known i would get an ass whooping if I came home with one shoe. We banged all of our heads together and bit each other.
Tell me the reward; who tells stories that put victim to shame.
You must know me well. Never was mine because i was never there, but the masters had the knowledge to claim it.
Rise from the ashes as a metaling Phoenix, my sword is my penis.
Dispose of anything that can take me away from me. The way we love the reactions of dogs is the same way men love to get reactions from me. Many dogs are taken home and abused. You can look at a dog and tell through the way it might cower over a sight of a specific object or sound.
Time only heals when we forget, over the line that I crossed 7 years ago.
Many more lay in front of me waiting to be crossed but death won’t let it, death won’t let it.
The Riff raff (the ones who run the show)
Within the image of a holier woman, who is well spoken and relinquishes the engine to please others.
Ruptured eardrum to be as aloof as any man has the power to be.
If you think you have power, you are defeated.
We played the game to show them the love that they stole from us.
Feeling used
their own methods against them
A childish hand to fix the machine
Corruption by sitting in my punctured hair
Instead we submit to words, talking to fail and manipulate
Punishment to the facial structures that deem me unworthy of having one breath
“Obligated," it says, "on your name tag! Please educate and inform that status quo."
Untitled
The fool ponders his weep.
Race cars, checkers zip up the corners of my mouth
Pissing and hissing.
Cattle stamped.
It became a sin when the apple was picked from the tree.
Can open her. Am I being detained?
grays and
Pinned scales like citrine.
A shell. A cavernous emptiness.
Forget it. You can't define it.
When I was a kid, my father had this dog.
It started to get weak and sickly so he took it to the vet.
The doctor examines it and says...
...a maggot must've laid eggs in the dog's butt.
He says there's not much they can do.
The baby maggots have crawled up and started to grow...
...and eventually they're going to eat the dog alive from the inside out.
He says it should be put to sleep because it's an old dog, anyway.
But Father won't do it.
He takes it home.
He puts it on the bed.
He starts to reach up into the dog...
...picking out the maggots with his fingers, one by one.
It takes him all night, but he gets every last one.
That dog outlived my father.
You're not that tough, Maggie.
I can tell you're not that tough.
Excerpt from Addicted to Love (1997) script
✸
Bri Williams is a sculptor, poet, and video artist based in California.
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Curb Stomp, 2018. Wax, candy bones, candy fish, Christmas light bulbs, chewed gum, pillow sheet
Heat Rash, 2019. Poem
Ruby 2, 2016. Balloons, assorted objects, video
Whistle blower, 2016. Poem
Wise, 2018. Wax, soap
Sebben crudele, 2015. Yarn, hooks, video
The Riff raff (the ones who run the show), 2021. Poem
Ashes to Ashes, 2018. Glitter glue transfer on wall
Untitled, 2021. Poem
Ursula, 2021. Shot gun, dress, soap
BACK TO TOP
