THE INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES OF CELLULOID - POEM BY CLAIRE CROWTHER

I've been writing a novel that is set in the early years of cinema. During my research for this book I came across the poet, Claire Crowther, and her exquisite collection, Silents, published by Hercules Editions.

And now, as my fiction also deals with the problems of flammability (in literal and emotional terms) from the era when movies were shot and saved on film of volatile celluloid, I'd like take this chance to share a poem taken from Claire's book ~ an homage to an African American director of silent films. A man who often bravely dealt with racial issues of the time.

This is Claire's thoughtful tribute.

THE INFLAMMATORY PROPERTIES OF CELLULOID

for Oscar Micheaux

If I were dead as all these stars are, in the warm dark, 

velvet-lined, I'd mind

an audience peering into my mouth to see what

silence makes of words.

If, at this digitised screening of Robertson's debut,

I'd lost my ticket

but had the transaction on my mobile, show, price, 

though none of it proof,

should I be let in without the material right?

Yes, film's made of light

and the director uses stars to silence race slurs

in intertitles.

If you should come across old film, a star on the edge

warns you that it burns.



Silents also features many images from silent films. It really is a lovely thing. A work of art in its own right.