Opening Bracket / Closing Bracket: An Object Lesson in Levitation
JL Williams
Performed on 17 February 2016 at Cooper Gallery
Cooper Gallery invited Edinburgh based poet JL Williams to respond to the moving-image exhibition ALL SYSTEMS… go as part of an evening of Dance & Poetry on Wednesday 17th February 2016. Inserting the body, through physical and aural presence, into the mobile systems we operate within and around, Cooper Gallery presented an evening of experimental dance and performance poetry. Drawing attention to the performativity of the body and speech, elements present within the three moving-image works in the exhibition, this event explored the fictionality of these systems and their institutional counter-parts. Widely respected dancers Jack Webb and Madira Gregurek presented their new performance AN END, devised as a direct response and rebellion to the systems drawn attention to by the exhibition. Acting as a prelude and epilogue to the evening, JL Williams performed her new piece Opening Bracket / Closing Bracket: An Object Lesson in Levitation, vocalising her reaction to the choreography of the exhibition and the Dance, into the event.
JL Williams performs Opening Bracket / Closing Bracket: An Object Lesson in Levitation
Opening Bracket: Entering into The Thousand-Petalled Night
nobody cries enough to mourn for us
my father when he was still in life
that reminds me now if my father
the mystery of my father
the mystery of the earth
opening all her mouths for us
opening her heart of fire
to embrace us
Bella
Leora
Inez
Isaiah
Jacob
Jonah
Nicodemus
Noah
Moses
Menelaus
the mystery of the earth
opening her wet legs
Ezra
Indigo
Isaac
Ondine
Aria
Lana
Mabel
Maybelle
the mystery of the earth
throwing seeds to the wind
Jupiter
Juniper
Yarrow
mother
betrayal
religion
the office
the gallery
the battlefield
if we talked about death more
maybe we would slow down
finally had some idea
between the translucent buildings
plastic, as in my dreams
pale pink, pale blue, pale yellow
if you dance with her
take pleasure
it doesn’t mean
you have power
it doesn’t mean you can have anything
it might mean
she has power
if spirits are memories anyway
of course there are ghosts
I am no I
I am not like or as
her work is never finished and her
clock is never fixed she says
O yes, O yes
one day I’ll find the time
the horses pulling the fire truck
the cardinals making crosses in the air
the pomegranate seeds
the pomegranate seeds slipping between his fingers
what was lost is lost
it’s a new state of being
moss with jewelled beetles
glittering black bottles
forest earth blood
white lamps or candle wicks
smudged black ends
brimstone and smoke
match lit and going out
sugar spice the docile prosthetic device
dusty ink on your skin
portraits of saints bleeding
screen-lit scenes of crucifixion
that night we climbed the mountain
stone stairs a thousand years old
only the moon to light
the cacti and their thorns
the silver globes of pomegranates
the silver globes of oranges
the tiny silver globes of olives on their branches
and the silver leaves of the olive trees
trembling in our wake
and then no moon
and only your voice
and our breath
and the heat of the stone
pulling us up
between the breasts of the mountain
the night we stood on the rooftop
and the air was liquid silver
and the silver dripped from our lips
onto the belly of the sea
when i walked through the mirror
and found you as a child
holding an acorn to the light
as if to see the life inside
when sound decays
it becomes
a brand new kind of sound
on the horizon
floating on water
a lotus flower, a heart, a crown
four notes:
one from the west
one from the north
one from the east
one from the south
we are in the centre
we are in the centre of sound
it won’t last long
but somewhere
someone will start to play again
sometimes i feel a breath, a hand
trailing its fingers in the silver water
Closing Bracket: This Is How I Levitate
‘the docile body’ Michel Foucault
it all begins with gold
the body, encased in gold, learns how to optimise
its essential functions
a spectre orbiting space
it is warmed
it is warmed
it is warmed
by its golden sheath
bent out of shape
materialised
de-materialised
bent into the machine
chicken
weeping man
corpse
pretzel
lighthouse
octopus
pain is the means by which we evolve
it is not pain
this is a period of transition
how does the tail feel
as it falls off
how does the skin feel
as it grows thin
thin as gold leaf
thin as the skin of a machine
this is not pain
this is ecstasy
we must inhabit our bodies
in order to fill our bodies
with what can lift our bodies
you learned how to sit
you learned how to eat
you learned how to barter
you learned how to march
you learned how to waltz
you learned how to paint
you learned how to exude
you learned how to fuck
you learned how to calm
you learned how to devise
you learned how to tremble
you learned how to trampoline
you learned how to sleep
you learned how to essentialise
you learned how to bomb
you learned how to
play
this is the hand covering the mouth (hand between legs)
this is the hand at the throat (hand at heart)
this is the hand between the legs (salute)
we move as one because we are one
look how we are a crab
white hands creeping
back and forth
toward a source of light
the look in your eyes suggests
an exchange of power
one thought for one vision
one vision for one
hiccup of feeling
one feeling for one
chance at lightness
when I touch you
you touch back
when I touch the machine
the machine touches back
soon we will all
have so many machines
they will be tensile clouds
which respond to our dreams
bounce a little
orgasm
watch the machine
bounce back
it is a little
the machine is a little like dying
so when you enter it
you have to give up your dreams
watch the screen
bounce back
it is a little
the screen is a little like dying
so when you enter it
you have to give up your dreams
watch the art
bounce back
it is a little
the art is a little like dying
so when you enter it
you have to give up your dreams
mcdonalds
mcdonalds
mcdonalds
mcdonalds
h&m
starbucks
apple
nike
shell
saatchi and versace
lockheed martin
primark
primark
primark
primark
primary
globalised western economy
white men betting in a room
whose walls are hung
with very expensive
pieces of painted canvas
i don’t want to give up my dreams
i want to give up my privilege
or better yet
i want to share
my privilege with everyone else
it could be an orgasm
or the final tremor of life
the men are lining up
and reading off their names
on the list of higher numbers
a man is dancing with fans
as if he were a fan
a body is opening up
the way a document opens
a machine is opening up
to expose its heart of gold
in the woods the last birds
are passing on their secret
their words are whispered by leaves
by the many tongues of ferns
by the holy breath of the wind
come in a little closer
i want to tell you a secret:
you must have a docile body
with many chambers for air
when you breathe in you fill the chambers
when you breathe out the air
circles
you always have air
in you
and when you look at the light
you let it into your eyes
so your bones fill with bright light
and when you feel like crying
you laugh instead
you laugh
and laugh
and laugh and laugh and laugh
JL Williams Biography
JL Williams‘ first collection, Condition of Fire (Shearsman, 2011), was inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses and a journey to the Aeolian Islands. Her second collection, Locust and Marlin (Shearsman, 2014), explores the idea of home and where we come from. Her poetry has been published internationally in journals including Magma, Edinburgh Review, Poetry Wales, The Wolf, Fulcrum and Stand. Our Real Red Selves (Vagabond Poets, 2015), a triptych collection featuring Williams and two other Scottish poets, considers themes of war and birth.
She is particularly interested in expanding dialogues through poetry across languages, perspectives and cultures and in cross-form work, visual art, opera and theatre. She was awarded a grant from the Scottish Arts Council for a poetry collaboration entitled chiaroscuro pentimenti and the Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary from the Scottish Arts Trust. She was selected for the 2015 Jerwood Opera Writing Programme and for the TRG3 Residency Programme at Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh.
Performer in the poetry and music band Opul, Williams gives regular poetry readings and workshops and is on the Live Literature funded list of Scottish Book Trust Authors. She is the programme manager at the Scottish Poetry Library where she curates poetry events and creates workshops and professional development activities for poets.