I like the video in its minimalism while supplementing the immersiveness of the poetry. It also feels a bit . . . nostalgic? That it is a simple Movie Maker video actually adds to that effect. (Are we old enough now that simple, early internet video feels ~vintage? Lol).
(And I laughed out loud when I saw the squirrel!).
I like the passage about loneliness (over the graveyard) especially.
I was actually amazed how well my voice came out! I really enjoyed the opportunity to do some slooooooooooow storytelling, generally poetry events are strictly timed so I have to race my words.
Through sheer lack of ability I probably had to use Movie Maker as I've never really done anything like this before but it totally worked. I enjoyed fading scenes into each other and slowing things down (which reduced my hand wobbly shakycam) as I felt it was quite a slow, ponderous story anyway? Especially the part about 1665-66. And I was in the graveyard when I started thinking about the poem, so I wanted it to be quiet storytelling rather than a super-slick Gone In 60 Seconds movie trailer thing!
Director's note: the squirrel conversation was originally with a bee, but it's tough to get footage of a bee and then a squirrel appeared, so that part got attributed to Mr. Squirrel!
Thanks! The video's nice, but the poem's what I'm really digging. Seems like it really opens up, appropriately enough, once it ventures outside.
I love, e.g., the smelling of one's own sweat, the construction/idea of someone singing something soothed (and closed), the list of names of the visited (as if invoking them is the cause of being transported away, like the regular dead are magic muses when named), the structural aspect of the flashback to plagues past, the thin places, the unexpected humor of the likes of "'Corona Extra': isn't it just?" (and that that comes from a ballcap but of course could be a headline too), the word "offshoot", and most of all your attention to sounds in words! Who'da thought it: there's beauty in "they intubate the foaming mouths and struggling lungs close enough to bathe in carbon dioxide...".
This aside from the combination of your "accent" (to this American) and your mastery of pace and pitch in that enunciated reading. Mad skills.
Any chance you'd share the text of the poem in writing?
Oh wow, thank you so much for your considered, nuanced watch and listen! I'll write a longer comment later, but i realised my accent (I do have an accent, I'm not offended at that!) has caused confusion. In that it was a bottlecap! Teenagers drinking Corona Extra beer, discarded the bottlecap on the ground.
Haha, out of interest, how would US people say it? Over here we would say bottle cap or bottle top, or lid. The thing the bottle opener removes. I always love to put tiny pieces in hidden humour in things
( ... )
Thank you so much. I know the parts about the groups are difficult to navigate as not everyone wants to think about these things, but I felt it was important, especially as I know people in such groups, and am partly in such groups myself, when I let my mind slip. It's a tricky time at the moment, for mind slippage.
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I like the video in its minimalism while supplementing the immersiveness of the poetry. It also feels a bit . . . nostalgic? That it is a simple Movie Maker video actually adds to that effect. (Are we old enough now that simple, early internet video feels ~vintage? Lol).
(And I laughed out loud when I saw the squirrel!).
I like the passage about loneliness (over the graveyard) especially.
Reply
I was actually amazed how well my voice came out! I really enjoyed the opportunity to do some slooooooooooow storytelling, generally poetry events are strictly timed so I have to race my words.
Through sheer lack of ability I probably had to use Movie Maker as I've never really done anything like this before but it totally worked. I enjoyed fading scenes into each other and slowing things down (which reduced my hand wobbly shakycam) as I felt it was quite a slow, ponderous story anyway? Especially the part about 1665-66. And I was in the graveyard when I started thinking about the poem, so I wanted it to be quiet storytelling rather than a super-slick Gone In 60 Seconds movie trailer thing!
Director's note: the squirrel conversation was originally with a bee, but it's tough to get footage of a bee and then a squirrel appeared, so that part got attributed to Mr. Squirrel!
Reply
I love, e.g., the smelling of one's own sweat, the construction/idea of someone singing something soothed (and closed), the list of names of the visited (as if invoking them is the cause of being transported away, like the regular dead are magic muses when named), the structural aspect of the flashback to plagues past, the thin places, the unexpected humor of the likes of "'Corona Extra': isn't it just?" (and that that comes from a ballcap but of course could be a headline too), the word "offshoot", and most of all your attention to sounds in words! Who'da thought it: there's beauty in "they intubate the foaming mouths and struggling lungs close enough to bathe in carbon dioxide...".
This aside from the combination of your "accent" (to this American) and your mastery of pace and pitch in that enunciated reading. Mad skills.
Any chance you'd share the text of the poem in writing?
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The 3 groups were captivating. It brings to mind the vulnerable that I don't always consider.
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