Moving Image & Sound - Assignment 1
Perhaps The World Ends Here by Joy Harjo
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
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I chose this poem as it struck me as a simple object - the kitchen table. When reading through the poem, I got a wave of different images that could be conveyed should I use this for my assignment. It provoked a sense of nostalgia when reading - nostalgia for home, family and youth.
The poem resonates with me because it has clear imagery and a clear story to tell. Inanimate objects, such as tables, can be so omnipresent in your life but go without ever being truly noticed or appreciated. Personally, I have felt this when I moved out of my first apartment, where I lived alone in my early twenties. I did not realise the significance of what each part of the apartment meant for me until it was time to leave. I still think back fondly to that apartment and will always remember the lighting, the flooring, and even the smell of the apartment and how those things made me feel.
From reading the poem, the table demonstrates the one constant in one's life. It is always there for you to drop things onto after a long day, or as a support for you while you cooking meals. A lot of your life can be centred around something as simple as a kitchen table, and even generations can grow throughout their lives using the same table.
I found this poem on Poetry Foundation. I started the process by looking at a few different poems, including 'I heard a Fly buzz—when I died' and '"Hope" is the thing with feathers', both written by Emily Dickinson. I have loved "Hope" for many years, even dedicating a tattoo to it a few years ago. It was the first poem to pop into my head upon hearing of this assignment. Upon reading "Hope" with the idea for the assignment in mind, I did not find the words conveying any kind of moving imagery - only still imagery. I took a look at some of Samuel Beckett's poetry, and then I noticed an article for poems titled 'Poems of Hope and Resilience' curated by the editors of Poetry Foundation. Upon finding 'Perhaps The World Ends Here', I realised that this is the poem I wish to use and have already started thinking of moving imagery to accompany it.
I have yet to create a storyboard and moodboard to accompany my assignment, however I am imagining the kitchen table being the focal point of the video. I may use my own video footage for this, and wish to portray an autumnal, dusky setting for the sadder points and a lighter setting for the happier points mentioned. I would like a sort of time lapse in the filming, so it looks like there is movement from the people in the shot throughout.
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"Perhaps the World Ends Here" from The Woman Who Fell From the Sky by Joy Harjo. Copyright © 1994 by Joy Harjo. Used by permission of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., www.wwnorton.com.
Source: The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (W. W. Norton and Company Inc., 1994)
