Death and Ambition
Walt's Monologue from Black Thong
Reading Presentation: Riant Theater 2001

Kofi Fosu Forson

Walt: (Letting go) Suicide, yes, but some one is ta blame. He didn’t just kill himself. I can run down the list of things that made him do it. Liquor put an end ta him but there was so much more before that. He was given too much freedom.

No country boy is supposed ta run off ta England. High fashion? We got ‘em here. What killed Richard? The notion that you can run around playing God ta everyone ya meet, everything ya see. Experimenting with everything ya touch. Creating a world fer yerself, no compromise. Living the life ya want, no restrictions.

(Pause) Ambition! Ambition is the key. That’s what killed him. Free-wheeling, turning things upside down, inside-out. Getting hooked on the metaphor. Ain’t that what it’s all about? Racking the brain for a phrase ta keep the cheerleaders and jocks off the field. I’m still stuck on the (hakoo). That’s where I gave up.

Richard was what they call a philosopher. He earned the right ta pontificate. I later addressed him as the “itch”. Always twitching, keeping his hair standing on up! He never liked it parted. He was as much a punk as Edgar Allen Poe. Like so many before him, he torched that liver. He chose his women, like he chose his wine. Imported.

(Pause) I believe it now. There’s no such thing as white country. People are migratin’. We got ‘em all up in our ears. And they’re banging louder than before.

(Pause) Ambition will put ya on stage, spread-eagled. Ambition will make money out of a skinny blond woman with big tits. Ambition will take you to an early grave. I have no ambition. Kill me.

R.I.P. Benazir Bhutto 2007