Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "The Dead" with animation by Juan Delcan of Spontaneous. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT New York. - - - - - - - The Poem - The dead are always looking down on us, they say, while we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich, they are looking down through the glass-bottom boats, of heaven as they row themselves slowly through eternity. They watch the tops of our heads moving below on earth, And when we lie down in a field or on a couch, Drugged perhaps by the hum of a warm afternoon, They think we are looking back at them, which makes them lift their oars and fall silent and wait, like parents, for us to close our eyes.

Poema de: Araceli Collazo
Dirección y Realización: Saul Escobedo
Voz, Audio y Mezcla de Sonido: Araceli Collazo
Actuaciones de:
Mujer: Araceli Collazo
Personaje de "Los Recuerdos": Santos Robledo de Mina, Nuevo León.

Araceli Collazo's Official Web Page
http://palomanegraworld.com

Este poema fue publicado originalmente en: Explicación de Textos Literarios, Año 2000, Volumen 29, Número 1. Revista Literaria, Universidad del Estado de California. Dir. de La Revista Dr. Fausto Avendaño.

Spanish (English Version follows)

Originalmente publicamos el storyboard del poema y ahora les presentamos el video. Este es un proyecto largamente acariciado. El video se grabó en La Haciendo del Muerto en Mina, Nuevo León y el Cementerio de el pequeño pero mágico Pueblo de Icamole, en García, Nuevo León. Las imágenes que aquí presentamos como "Los Recuerdos" se filmaron el Domingo anterior a la filmación, durante una ceremonia en honor a San Antonio por los residentes del Rancho Los Carricitos, en Mina, Nuevo León. El hombre detrás del colorido traje es un danzante real; nos permitió hacerle estas tomas exclusivamente para nuestro proyecto cuando concluyó su ceremonia. Todas las locaciones existen tal y como se presentan, incluyendo las imágenes de San Antonio (la estatua estaba ahí para la ceremonia) y la decoración en el interior de la Iglesia. Tuvimos mucha suerte al encontrarnos con ellos en nuestro recorrido de reconocimiento de las locaciones. Ellos fueron muy accesibles y amables con nosotros. Les estaré eternamente agradecida. A cambio les llevamos una copia de nuestro video y otro con las imágenes de su ceremonia. Espero que lo disfruten. Sus comentarios son bienvenidos.

English:

We originally published the storyboard for this poem and now we present the video. This is a long-awaited project. The video was shot at La Hacienda del Muerto in Mina, Nuevo León and the Cemetery of Icamole, a very small yet magic town near García, Nuevo León. The images we present here as "Los Recuerdos" (Memories) were shot the Sunday prior to the shooting of the video during a real ceremony in honor of San Antonio (St. Anthony) by the residents of Rancho Los Carricitos in Mina, Nuevo León. The man behind the colorful suit is a real dancer; he allowed us to shoot those images exclusively for our video after their ceremony was over. All locations exist exactly as we present them, including the images of San Antonio (its statute was there for their ceremony) and the beautiful decorations inside the church. We were so fortunate to have found them there that Sunday in our walk-through. They were very accessible and kind to us. We will be forever thankful. In exchange we brought them a copy of our video as well as the images of their ceremony. I hope that you will enjoy the results. Your comments are welcome.

Poem:

Cuelgo a mi cristo

Me despiertan las campanas
de mi religión abandonada.
Me distraen los recuerdos
bailando bajo las sábanas.
Tengo a mi Cristo colgado
del tendedero de mi alma
y mi alma remojando
en un saco bajo la cama.

Tropiezo con las huellas de mi sombra.
Me fatiga el dolor que no calla.
El contar de los minutos que no acaba.
Ver llegar la mañana y saber que la noche
que la noche
que la noche
será larga.

Te sorpenden mis silencios, mis audacias,
nuestro amor que se hizo garras.
Te quieres ir y no te vas,
pues ¿qué te falta?
Te quedas porque sabes bien
que aún me amas.

A veces me cansa el dolor,
a veces acepto el frío.
A veces mi lamento
no lo escuchan mis oídos.

El frío se quita bajo unas sábanas
un cuerpo tibio
El dolor ni con los recuerdos
ni con el olvido

Mientras decides si te vas ó si te quedas,
cuelgo a mi Cristo de los tendederos de mi alma
y cuento las horas
los días
los silencios
las palabras
y envejece este amor en un saco bajo mi cama.

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Some Days" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - The Poem - Some days I put the people in their places at the table. Bend their legs at the knees if they come with that feature. And fix them into the tiny wooden chairs. All afternoon they face each other. The man in the brown suit, the woman in the blue dress. Perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved. But other days, I am the one who is lifted up by the ribs, then lowered into the dining room of a doll house to sit with the others at the long table. Very funny, but how would you like it if you didn't know from one day to the next if you were going to spend it striding around like a vivid God, your shoulders in the clouds. Or sitting down there amidst the wallpaper, staring straight ahead with your little plastic face.

A Useless Bay Production of 'The Road Not Taken'. A 'by-the-numbers' interpretation of the classic Robert Frost poem, where the road before her is the antagonist to The One Traveler's protagonist. What path would you choose?

An invitation into my head. Short poems and ramblings that I have written.

Poem by Edgar Allen Poe Visuals, Music and Read By Jon Wiltzen

THE RAVEN is one of Poe's best known poems. I designed a video with a near atmosphere. I adore POE,so this is a tribute to the immortal writer and poet! This song is performed by the band "The Alan Parsons Project" and it takes part in the album, "Tales of Mistery and Imagination , Edgar Allan Poe" . The awesome illusions belong to the great artist Rob Gonsalves.

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Walking Across the Atlantic" with animation by Mike Stolz of Manic. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - - The Poem - I wait for the holiday crowd to clear the beach before stepping onto the first wave. Soon I am walking across the Atlantic thinking about Spain, checking for whales, waterspouts. I feel the water holding up my shifting weight. Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface. But for now I try to imagine what this must look like to the fish below, the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "The Best Cigarette" with animation by David Vaio of FAD. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - The Poem - There are many that I miss having sent my last one out a car window sparking along the road one night, years ago. The heralded one, of course: after sex, the two glowing tips now the lights of a single ship; at the end of a long dinner with more wine to come and a smoke ring coasting into the chandelier; or on a white beach, holding one with fingers still wet from a swim. How bittersweet these punctuations of flame and gesture; but the best were on those mornings when I would have a little something going in the typewriter, the sun bright in the windows, maybe some Berlioz on in the background. I would go into the kitchen for coffee and on the way back to the page, curled in its roller, I would light one up and feel its dry rush mix with the dark taste of coffee. Then I would be my own locomotive, trailing behind me as I returned to work little puffs of smoke, indicators of progress, signs of industry and thought, the signal that told the nineteenth century it was moving forward. That was the best cigarette, when I would steam into the study full of vaporous hope and stand there, the big headlamp of my face pointed down at all the words in parallel lines.

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Budapest" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - The Poem - My pen moves along the page like the snout of a strange animal, shaped like a human arm and dressed in the sleeve of a loose green sweater. I watch it sniffing thepaper ceaselessly, intent as any forager that has nothing on its mind but the grubs and insects that will allow it to live another day. It wants only to be here tomorrow, dressed perhaps in a sleeve of a plaid shirt, nose pressed against the page, writing a few more dutiful lines while I gaze out the window and imagine Budapest, or some other city where I have never been.

Meditation on Life, a test audio file.

Nice made visualized poetry commercial

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Now and Then" with animation by Eun-ha Paek of Milky Elephant. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - The Poem - 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.

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Hunger" with animation by FAD. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - The Poem - The fox you lug over your shoulder in a dark sack has cut a hole with a knife and escaped. The sun lightens, makes you think you are stronger as you walk back to your small cottage through a forest that covers the world.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

Transcript

I wondered about you
when you told me never to leave
a box of wooden, strike-anywhere matches
lying around the house because the mice

might get into them and start a fire.
But your face was absolutely straight
when you twisted the lid down on the round tin
where the matches, you said, are always stowed.

Who could sleep that night?
Who could whisk away the thought
of the one unlikely mouse
padding along a cold water pipe

behind the floral wallpaper
gripping a single wooden match
between the needles of his teeth?
Who could not see him rounding a corner,

the blue tip scratching against a rough-hewn beam,
the sudden flare, and the creature
for one bright, shining moment
suddenly thrust ahead of his time -

now a fire-starter, now a torchbearer
in a forgotten ritual, little brown druid
illuminating some ancient night.
Who could fail to notice,

lit up in the blazing insulation,
the tiny looks of wonderment on the faces of his fellow mice, onetime inhabitants
of what once was your house in the country?