Music: Mavis Staples/Hard Times

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Hunger: Cravings of the Weary Forsaken

The filmmaker, Samuel Christopher, is actually a duo consisting of Chris Turner and Sam Tootal. Their short film examines poet Billy Collins' enigmatic poem "Hunger" by posting the poem's lines up against a silent urban landscape like hyper-literary graffiti. Christopher interprets Collins' textual riddle with his own visual rendering of the poem, a forsaken and depopulated cityscape's lonely craving. In particular, the "fox" that was lugged over your shoulder is anything that you thought was "in the bag", or "success." When it escapes, you might mistakenly think you're stronger, instead of realizing that you've lost whatever it was that you thought was safe and secure. Your "cottage" in a forest that "covers the world" refers to the fact that no matter how great your house, it is a very lonely place on a very big planet, and no matter in what esteem you may hold it, or yourself, ultimately you're very insignificant. In the end, no one is much different from the people who are poor or are homeless.

Hunger

The fox you lug over your shoulder
in a dark sack
has cut a hole with a knife
and escaped.
The sudden lightness makes you think
you are stronger
as you walk back to your small cottage
through a forest that covers the world.

Billy Collins

[wpvideo vRCwSm0R w=475]

Hunger: Cravings of the Weary Forsaken

Short Film by Samuel Christopher

Technorati: Billy Collins, Billy Collins poetry, poetry, action poetry, photographs, homeless, the poor, lonely, photography, film, short film, stock market crash, audio, music, Mavis Staples, video

Please Remember Me and Bookmark This:

Today: If Ever There Were a Day So Perfect

Today

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

Billy Collins

[wpvideo brFBBmie w=460]

Today: If Ever There Were a Day So Perfect

Animation by Little Fluffy Clouds

Andrew Sullivan on tonight's second presidential debate: "This has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out. It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate."

Please Remember Me and Bookmark This:

"They're your traveling companions," she says.

I tell her that says a lot about the differences between women and men.

Jenny asks, "How's that again?"

Just that if we were to open the two-panel mirrored door to her closet, what we'd see there is a veritable army of footwear, enough pairs for probably a small country, standing ready and awaiting her orders. Compare this to me. I've got the ratty-white leather sneakers I'm wearing, and one pair of black "dress shoes" at home that haven't seen the light of day since I-don't-even-know. I've thrown out every other pair I've ever owned. Jenny knows this. But we don't talk about it. Other than for her to say you - by which she means, the universal you - should never give away your shoes. Even though I still do.

She agrees with me. "Oh, totally," she says, and nods slowly. For some reason I picture her as one of those toy birds whose head keeps bobbing back-and-forth towards the water. Looking for fish. Or a fresh pair of loafers.

She says, "We women must not be all that happy with where we're going. While you men will settle for any old goddamn thing."

I tell her she shouldn't swear. She's a philosopher. I'm an English major, so I'm stuck doing things like correcting her grammar. Jenny's my best friend, and has been for years. So when she answers with a grin, "Fuck off man," I nod, and understand.

I hear her loud and clear.

Si tratta in pratica di un'animazione costruita sul testo di una poesia, letta in sottofondo...la voce è quella dell'autore....

Niente di sconvolgentemente originale, dunque, ma la cosa mi ha incuriosito alquanto, dal momento che sia l'animazione che la poesia non erano male...

Così, cerca cerca, ho trovato qualche informazione sull'autore delle poesie, tale Billy Collins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Collins), poeta americano contemporaneo, la cui opera è molto apprezzata dal pubblico ma avversata da gran parte della critica, a causa della sua (supposta) eccessiva semplicità.

Non intendo entrare nel merito della diatriba critica perchè non sarei in grado, ma non posso che lodare il risultato...trovo che l'unione di queste poesie e delle belle animazioni che le accompagnano sia notevole...vi invito pertanto a visitare il sito dove sono raccolte:

http://www.bcactionpoet.org/index.html

...e per stuzzicare la curiosità, ve ne posto una...

Il testo:

This poet of the Tsong dynasty is so miserable. The wind sighs, a single swan passes over head and he is alone on the water in his skiff. If only he appreciated life in eleventh century China as much as I do. No loud cartoons on television, no music from the ice cream truck. Just the calls of many birds and the steady flow of the water clock.

There are a lot of ways to mess this up, but the videos, combined with Collins's plain poetry, and wonderful monotone, get this really right.

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