How I Knew Her


Direct link to video on Vimeo.

Yet another one-minute videopoem. We had a series of violent thunderstorms the night before last, and rather than film the lightning itself, I decided to try and capture what the lightning illuminated. It was interesting how sometimes the camera managed to focus and other times it didn’t.

The use of a cursive script for the title was a first for me. The poem arose like all the others in this one-minute series, as a response to the footage. Influenced I think by my two recent videohaiku, it makes a literal connection with the film imagery at the end.

How I Knew Her

I knew her the way a lake knows a mountain:
from the top down.
Through careful reassembly after every breeze.

I knew her the way a clown knows boredom:
better than I knew that absurdity my self.

I knew her the way an ear candle knows an ear:
through the most intimate of failures
& the sincerest form of flattery.

I knew her the way the night knows lightning:
by inference from the series of missing moments.

2 Replies to “How I Knew Her”

  1. Dave, I love this one. To be honest, it is the first video poem I have watched. I have added it to my ‘keep’ folder and plan to use it with the kids to show them that incorporating media into their writing and projects doesn’t mean it has to be a big production to be effective.

    1. Hi Pamela – I’m glad you liked it. That is kind of what I’m trying to prove with this one-minute movies kick I’m on, to myself as well as to others. It’s easy to get intimidated by some of the incredibly well-made films at Moving Poems, but I don’t even have the software to imitate many of them, let along the equipment or training. So minimalism is kind of a forced choice, but I think it can be fun to try to overcome limitations — and in any case, my own taste in film runs toward minimalism anyway (I found My Dinner with Andre completely captivating).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.