Lauren Farrington Final Poem

[0:01] Looking up into the sky, trees on either side of the screen; simple nostalgic music; text appears on screen:

For the first time,

[0:05] Boy appears to playing in tree with Mother right behind him

[0:07] Boy playing in rain; text appears on screen:

On the road north of Tampico,

[0:09] Boy now playing with a water hose

[0:11] Two children holding hands

[0:13] Zooms out to show one of the children, older than the other; text appears on screen:

I felt

[0:19] Zoom out even more to see two children and an older woman playing with the water house; text appears on screen:

The life

[0:21] Boy and dog running across the street

[0:24] Three boys playing in the trees

[0:27] Move left to see a one-story house with lights on

[0:30] Mother kissing son to sleep in his bed, teddy bear in background along with nightlight

[0:31-0:35] Zooms out, video of mother and son fades; text appears on screen:

S
    L
       I
         D
           I
             N
               G
                   Out of me

[0:38] Smoke in the background of previous text; music changes to a much slower beat, still same song though

[0:41] Now you can only see smoke with a black background; no music

[0:46] Static noise in the background

[0:47] Smoke still in background; static noise still there; faded out image of boy’s face

[0:51] text appears on screen:

A drum in the desert

[0:55] Text disappears; faded out image of boy’s face comes back

[0:57] Zooms in on the boy’s face

[0:58] Image of boy disappears; text appears on screen:

Harder and harder

[1:01] Static noise still; now just image of smoke

[1:05] Faded out image of boy’s face reappears; text appears on screen:

To hear

[1:09] Boy’s image is gone; smoke still in the background; still static noise; same text

[1:14] No noise, no image; blank screen

[1:16] Text appears on screen:

I was seven

[1:19] Text is gone; Image of sun and moon combined appears on screen

[1:21] Sun and moon fade to become some kind of planet like sphere; sound of rain; text appears on screen:

I lay in the car

[1:25] Planet-like sphere turns into a cut out video of a boy’s face

[1:27] Music starts back up with the nostalgic tone, still static-y and kind of sounds like rain; text appears on screen:

Watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern

[1:32] Cut out video focuses on left side of boy’s face

[1:35] Night sky with stars appears on left side of video and rolls across screen; text appears on screen:

across

[1:38] text appears on screen:

The

[1:41] Night sky with stars fades into background, but doesn’t disappear; text appears on screen:

Glass.

[1:42] Night sky with stars expands, making the cut out video of the boy’s face appear to be a planet with rings around it and stars filling the sky

[1:45] Image of expanding night sky recedes back into planet-like/cut out video of boy’s face

[1:48] text appears on screen:

My stomach was a melon

[1:52] Cut out video of boy’s face/planet-like sphere slides to right side of video; text appears on screen:

Split

[1:53] Stars start to fly through the video from right to left

[1:54] Stars disappear; planet-like sphere glides to left side of video; text appears on screen:

Wide

[1:58] Planet-like sphere now in the center of video; music starts a kind of Caribbean drum beat; text appears on screen:

Inside my skin.

[2:00] Can see boy’s face again inside the planet-like sphere

[2:06] Blank screen, still music though

[2:10] Candle appears in middle of screen, lit and flickering; text appears on screen:

“How do you know

[2:16] text appears on screen, added to candle image and other text:

You are going to die?”

[2:20] First set of text (“How do you know) disappears

[2:24] text appears on screen, in addition to the last text appearing on screen:

I begged my mother.

[2:32] No text, just image of burning candle

[2:35] Text appears on screen:

We had been traveling for days

[2:40] Text disappears

[2:44] Text appears on screen:

With strange confidence

[2:49] Music has less of that Caribbean metallic beat, becomes softer, more melancholy

[2:50] Text appears on screen:

She answered,

[2:54] Text “with strange confidence” disappears

[2:57] Text appears on screen:

“When you can no longer

[2:59] Text “she answered,” disappears

[3:03] Text appears on screen:

Make a fist.”

[3:07] Text ““When you can no longer” disappears

[3:10] Candle starts to flicker more, as if someone is trying to blow it out

[3:12] Candle goes out, text of “make a fist.”” begins to be larger and move to the middle of the screen

[3:16] Text of “make a fist.”” at middle of screen; music slows to a stop

[3:19] Blank screen; no music

[3:22] Static noise

[3:26] Classical piano music, melancholy notes

[3:27] Text appears on screen:

Years later I smile to think

[3:30] Zoom in on image of a ladder resting against a bridge between two stucco/concrete buildings; text appears on screen:

Of that journey,

[3:34] Zoom in even more on image of ladder; text appears on screen:

The borers we must cross

[3:37] Image of woman in white dress, standing over a ditch or grave, reaching out to whoever’s in the whole; text appears on screen:

Separately

[3:39] A hand starts reaching towards the woman; text disperses across the screen

[3:41] Can hear a quiet, soft, female voice in background, but can’t make out the words

[3:42] Black background, can still see white strip that text appeared on, text is still dispersed across the screen

[3:45] Can hear the quiet, soft, female voice again, but still can’t make out the words; text reassembles with new text to form:

Stamped by our unanswerable woes

[3:49] Text still on screen; image appears of boy running around room, playing, while mother looks after him

[3:51] Text disappears; now image is of boy walking in front door holding a snake

[3:54] Boy runs into room where previous image of boy running around room and mother catching him were; text appears on screen:

I who did not die,

[3:55-4:00] Boy chases mother around house with snake in his hand. Text disappears at 4:00 min. mark

[4:01] See three boys playing with mother, jumping around on their beds

[4:03] Text appears on screen:

Who am still living

[4:05] Boys now trying to follow woman outside through laundry room(?), door closes; text still on screen

[4:08] All the children chasing the mother outside in the backyard; music now has clear voices, is calm, steady; text appears on screen:

Still lying in the backseat

[4:09] Screen goes white; text still on screen

[4:10] Text still on screen; background image is now clouds with an iridescent hue

[4:12] Text disappears

[4:13] Image changes to a redder hued image of clouds; text appears on screen:

Behind all my questions,

[4:14] In the image of the clouds, at the top center the clouds begin to appear pure white, spreading out

[4:18] Text disappears, so does image; left with gray image

[4:19] Image starts to clear to form the image of a galaxy, the formation in the middle of the screen

[4:22] Text appears on screen:

clenching and opening

[4:26] Text disappears

[4:28] Image changes from a galaxy to a star formation cloud in space. The whisp-y looking star-formation cloud is on the right side of the screen, while images of stars, and a planet-like sphere are on the left

[4:33] Text appears on screen:

One

[4:36] Last text is still on screen; new text appears on screen:

Small

[4:37] Both texts still on screen; new text appears on screen:

Hand

[4:41] Image goes black; end of e-poem