Prompt: ‘The Earth Shakes’ by Steve Sanfield
The earth shakes
just enough
to remind us.
My video response:
My written response to Madelynne’s video:
How could something
so beautiful be so
bad for you?
It’s sitting there
in a field of green,
reaching for the sun.
You’re drawn to it,
for it looks innocent,
blinded by beauty.
So, you lean down
to touch it, fingers
brushing against petals.
Now it’s got you in
its grips, tendrils
hooked to your veins.
The poison is spreading
fast, sinking its roots
into your brain.
Like a leech it sucks
your blood away,
leaving you drained.
Your body starts to
wither, your limbs
and organs decay.
And then, it leaves you
there to die, rotting
from the inside out.
I find your video very calming to listen to as well as watch. How you wade in the waves a bit, picking up seashells and letting them drop back into the water AND when you reach out to the sea’s horizon. It’s a very deep response to Madelynne’s poem. As for your own, it’s a solemn and eerie (I STILL LOVE IT THOUGH) response that represents how the Earth may turn against us all, the same way that we have turned against it now. It captures a narrative and a warning that really binds me in place as a reader and a writer. Both of you have done really well :)))
Maddie’s Video – Just Enough to Notice
I haven’t seen someone use a different line of the poem until this! Gives the whole video a unique vibe – good choice! I love the static additions of colour, and the way that the buds nearing the end of the video seem to reach for the sky like little hands.
I wonder what the video would have been like without music, or at least with the crunching of the feet able to be heard more clearly. The music seems very peaceful for a piece that seems a little lonely and curious to me, so maybe some experimentation with other sounds would be nice?
You have shot this with exceptional quality! It looks very professional and it makes me want to watch more! I also like the final shot, of the subject walking away from the camera, as if seeing things from a broader perspective!
Maddie’s Poem – A Relationship With the Ocean
CAN I JUST SAY I love blackout poetry, and this is no exception! The way you styled this is so unique to your way of working as a creative person, and you really transformed the original piece into your own.
I’m disappointed that there isn’t a link to Zahra’s video, as it makes it difficult to link the two together, but that’s my biggest critique.
I’m honestly gushing over this! The last line is SO impactful, and I can’t get enough of this solemn, reflective atmosphere that just bleeds through the whole piece. “…planet Ocean” and “while the ocean may look… for millennia” are so very clever! Fantastic work! 😀
Zarah I think the use of sound in the video is powerful. Because it isn’t diegetic, but obviously has a relationship to the image, there’s a space that’s opened up for the audience, which offers up another dimension to the work. I wonder how you could employ that same kind of approach to your poem? Giving a bit more space for the reader…