Appraisal (A poetry film)

Screened at FILMPOEM 2013 as part of the main programme, Dunbar, Scotland.
Selected for the CologneOFF IX – 9th Cologne International Videoart Festival
Selected for the 2013 VISIBLE VERSE FESTIVAL, Canada

A poetry film that explores ideas of alienation and personal identity in relation to others and by testing the limits within the self. Filmed in Ireland in 2013.

Images by Melissa Diem
Poem written and read by Melissa Diem
Sound production by Colm Slattery.

Appraisal

I tested what to do or not from strange lives passing swiftly

before me on a thirty-six inch screen or me before them

on a train travelling before curtains are drawn and after the lights flick on

to renovated kitchens viewed from the back, bird-tables, trampolines all gathering nets.

I tested my body – giving up food, and days I could sleep in multitudes,

pressing the pliable walls of my mind and scaffolds of thought to a fault-line.

I walked across the country with my eyes closed

like a kid trying on sizes pretending to be blind because you haven’t figured out

how to gauge the distance of your life against others.

Or like testing an ornament unbearably fragile you’ve been told not to touch

but you can’t stand the tension of not knowing

the exact measure of pressure it would take

to crush it

entirely.

Published in The Stinging Fly 2010

Tags: Avant-garde, cinepoem, experimental, film poem, melissa diem, moving poem, poetry, poetry film, poetry in motion, video art, Video poem, visual poem

15 thoughts on “Appraisal (A poetry film)”

Hanno Phenn on September 21, 2013 at 12:28 am said:

Lovely work.

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- Melissa Diem on September 21, 2013 at 11:03 am said:
  
  Thank you Hanno :)
  
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  - Hanno Phenn on September 21, 2013 at 11:06 am said:
    
    I was just so frank and Shared your work on my a Facebook Page.If you don’t mind.I really like it that much.
  - Melissa Diem on September 21, 2013 at 11:11 am said:
    
    I’m delighted for you to share it Hanno. Thank you very much :)
  - Hanno Phenn on September 21, 2013 at 11:13 am said:
    
    You are very welcome.
ArtiPeep on September 21, 2013 at 8:48 am said:

Melissa, I really enjoyed this, particularly the transitions between the blurry trees and the static noise which serve to form an atmosphere that makes the entrance of your voice and poem more striking. Great! Nicky

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- Melissa Diem on September 21, 2013 at 11:13 am said:
  
  Thanks so much Nicky. I’m really glad you like it. M
  
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Valerie on September 21, 2013 at 10:31 am said:

For me there’s a tension in it between a tentative sense of expansivesness/possibility in the words and images and the fragiliity which permeates that and resonates really well at the end. The grace and delicacy of the little girl is gorgeous

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- Melissa Diem on September 21, 2013 at 11:27 am said:
  
  Thank you Valerie for your lovely words. I also love the little dancer’s look of concentration :)
  
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leonaleecully on September 23, 2013 at 12:10 pm said:

Reblogged this on leonaleecully and commented:
Poetry film: Appraisal by Melissa Diem.

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- Melissa Diem on September 23, 2013 at 4:14 pm said:
  
  Thanks Leona! Hope life’s being good to you xx
  
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theworldoutsidethewindow on October 3, 2013 at 12:39 pm said:

I always find your films so stunning. I just love the atmosphere you manage to create. It is nervous and dreamlike.

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- Melissa Diem on October 4, 2013 at 9:10 am said:
  
  Thank you so much, I really appreciate that :)
  
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kathydfish on October 26, 2013 at 2:40 pm said:

Wow, this is stunning, Melissa.

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- Melissa Diem on October 27, 2013 at 11:04 am said:
  
  Thank you Kathy. I’m really glad you like it :)
  
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