the Lumieres cranked their cinématographe
&
trains came, babies babied, horses tricked
the washer-woman, the frowning boy
Berlin, Baku, Bucharest —
everyone’s gone ‘neath death’s blanket
yet this December morning,
grown-ups are pitching and donking
it’s snow-melee ! Pity the hapless cyclist
& his immortal hat.
Video: A wonderful restoration of the Lumiere brothers’ film c/- Joaquim Campa @JoaquimCampa. A quadrille (44 words) for Dverse where Merril is hosting and asks us to use ‘blanket’.
I could watch this all day. (If the video takes too long to load, you can find it here.)
And if that’s not enough, here’s Bang on a Can from 2016 with John Luther Adams’ piece In a Treeless Place, Only Snow. Just chill.
My first thought was “Sometimes you feel like a nut,” part of an old jingle for candy bars Mounds and Almond Joy. The Southern Hemisphere is just going into summer, while we’re headed into the white mess. Such a joyous scene that none who partook in will ever forget.
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And they live forever👍
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I had never seen that wonderful film… found the black-and-white original on youtube as well and it’s really hilarious (though I pity the poor bicyclist)… didn’t even know something this great existed.
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Me either (who says Twitter is a waste of time…?) 😀
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Brilliantly penned details, Peter. I feel bad for the bicyclist, but it sure makes a good laugh. I couldn’t believe that they just started pelting him and when he left, it was like nothing happened. Hahaha.
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I appreciate this because I took a course in French film and learned about les Frères Lumières and their iconic films.
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Delightful! Thanks for sharing.
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I agree it is delightful! All dead, but they live on in film.
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Thank you so much, Peter, for the Lumière footage and a poem that took me back in time, but also reminded me of my own mortality with the line ‘everyone’s gone ‘neath death’s blanket’ I love the ‘hapless cyclist & his immortal hat’!
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That’s the great contrast isn’t it – alive on film, long gone in reality. It’s a great piece of footage, and the colour really makes it come to life.
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and the music…
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This is absolutely fabulous! I so enjoy French direction and their flair for detail oriented films and music. Love this! 💝
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I had to read this several times as the rhythm and words wreaked havoc with my dyslexia. But I I finally read it in its entirety and understood. I often look at the old films and think of those that are long buried beneath that ssnow.
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Wonderful capture in words of a wonderful winter scene.
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Oui, c’est tres BON!!!
Archival excellence both visual and verse. Thanks, Peter.
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What fun in that snow-melee! But pity the poor cyclist.
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“It’s snow-melee” indeed! Loved this travel back into film history and a quirky snow day!
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kaykuala
grown-ups are pitching and donking
it’s snow-melee !
Seasons come and go but we gladly adjust to bask in the sun and snow as the case may be. Life becomes more interesting! Great poetic language, Pete!
Hank
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You have peaked my interest in looking for that film.
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Well peter the snowball fight sounds more attractive than the blanket of death strong peas
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Wow, that video is so powerful when watched alongside your words: that moment is long gone and well buried under the blanket of death, yet it lives in the film, and in your words. Poignant and thought-provoking.
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Thanks Ingrid – it’s a hoot isn’t it?
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Sure is!
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you brought the movie to life too – so vivacious the fun in your words. And it goes on and so does the blanket of death that covers us all eventually/ What a contrast!
p.s. did you opt for snow now you are sweltering?
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(Not quite sweltering but we had 27 C for a few days and the rhubarb wilted)
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A needed respite from the stresses of life…except for the bicyclist of course. Everything that has been bottled up comes out. Wonderful (K)
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This, poem and film (and music) made we want to cry. Those people, men women and kids (and cyclist) are so real, so now, and they’re all dead.
when babies babied—wonderful!
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Ha! Hapless cyclist, indeed. A numpty in a forever loop, trying to ride straight through a snowball fight.
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‘numpty’ – ha.
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I love the mayhem pictured as the you capture the frenzy of fun and mishap, that white blanket I onced knew as a child.
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Yeah me too.
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🙂
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