Impressionist Cinema
Each memory is a hazy frame
in the making of a movie
of my life.
~
Long, hot, mouth burn of a chilli pepper
eaten in error,
scent of lemon trees on a hill
in a Greek fishing village,
first cold beer at the RE
in the sun on that Sunday after swimming at Colleges Crossing,
never-ending red centre
viewed from the thick window of a whining plane,
playing netball the day after Split Enz
made my ears ring.
~
things not remembered
have perished,
things remembered
are just memories,
impressionist cinema.
Gabe Feathers McGee 
Very good, memory is like that, and I like your choice of memories to include here
Thanks Crafty Green Poet. I tried to pick some earlier, vivid memories – even they were difficult to pin down – I’d think something happened somewhere and realise it was probably a different time or place – memory as a subjective construct of reality 🙂
Once upon a time, Mandrake could ‘gesture hypnotically’ and cause a person to project a memory onto a screen, the light coming from the eyes. Are you working in smething like that?
If so just don’t ‘gesture hypnotically’ around me!
No I’m not Stafford, but gee I wish I could do that – I did study hypnosis at Uni – haha. I would always ask permission before stealing someone else’s memory via hypnotical gestures 😉
I really like the metaphor of the ‘impressionist cinema’ as a representation of life…guess that’s what we all do in a way….very fine verse.
We do indeed slpmartin – there is no avoiding the subjectiveness of our experiences (though everyone acts like there perceptions are the right ones – haha).
Love the images. Things not remembered have not perished. 😉
Thanks Brad. Did you mean to put a not in my sentence – haha.
I did not! That is to say that I did, with intent, not – though I did not merely put it in your sentence but rather sought to challenge what I perceived to be a controversial statement.
There are distinctions that can be made between sentences and statements. The one that seems most relevant here is the smiley face. Before I go any further I would just like to say, firstly, that I think academic style manuals should include a section on the use of emoticons and abbreviated emotionally charged reactions, especially in the context of argumentative and critical explication techniques. Secondly, that I would immediately pooh-pooh such a manual unless it could demonstrate its value with an emoticonic interpretation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
My point of course, which I am sure you have already cottoned on to ;), is that a sentence like “scent of lemon trees on a hill in a Greek fishing village,” does not require the use of an tacked on emotional representation to express the feelings of the person expressing its content.
“Long, hot, mouth burn of a chilli pepper eaten in error”, roflmao!
Thus that which is a sentence is that which does not require a representative emoticon. A statement, on the other hand, is that which for some reason people feel the need to justify, IMH :-O
Stay with me. I am going somewhere with this – LOL.
I wish to challenge the statement that things not remembered have perished.
I don’t remember playing netball the day after Split Enz made my ears ring, but when you put it into a sentence like that, it has the desired effect. To have Life is to have the desired effect. The ‘just memories’ in this poem have had a desired effect. Therefore, the things not remembered have not persihed.
I don’t think I would get a high distinction for that argument, but it made me smile. 🙂
Brad, Brad, Brad – good to see you taking your philosophy studies so seriously. This is like fencing (of the sword variety) where I can parry all your arguments – haha. But I am a bit tired after the birthday celebrations so here are just a couple. The secondary thesis in my poem, that things not remembered have perished is hard to prove or disprove (it’s still a sentence though as it has a verb, noun, etc.,). If another person remembers an incident that I have forgotten then they will remember it differently as always happens because of the subjective nature of memory and experience, therefore their memory exists but my memory does not – it did not solidify in my neuronal pathways, so it must have perished – it is no more. ps. that chilli was hot and I was about 4 years old 😉
memories full of striking sensations, lovely poignant thought-phrases of poetry here and the word cinema at the conclusion is very evocative
Cinema is a lovely word Aletha, which evokes lots of things for me (and most people I suppose) to do with movies, but I also like it cause it sounds like the spice cinnamon and my dog’s father’s name was Cinnabar (which is good too – haha). I picked one memory per sense (sight, sound etc.).
There is definitely an impressionist feel to my memories too. The cinematic idea really fits. I often think of days gone by as if they are rushes for a film. Very apt.
Part of this poem comes from having hayfever which makes my brain feel foggy and it’s hard to remember anything. Thanks Selma – big hugs and hope all is well with you 🙂
I love words that draw their strength from such rich memories, and I really love your cinematic reference point.
Your poems always feel so ‘real’ (and wonderful of course).
Thanks Tracey 🙂
you gave us here a very tasty memories. love the way you wrapped it all together.
Thanks Dhyan for making me hungry 🙂
This poem reminds of Italian cinema, Fellini (and others…)when there are black and white sequences with beautiful music of memories.
Bellissimo, Gabriella!
That’s one the best comments ever Benedicte – I would love to be Italian so Gabriella it is 🙂
You’ve done an excellent job with this
🙂
whistles~~~~hoot!! that movie was great, the director and cinematographer should get an award, beautifully shot in multiple locations and footage filtered with impressionist color. thumbs up!
Another great comment – we should be able to score comments 😉 10/10 for tipota (comment no. 9 from Ben – you get 10/10 too) – hahahaha. It is in multiple locations and times – I wonder how many times in a day do we bring up separate memories – probably hundreds I suppose). We won’t know unless we have the powers of Mandrake (comment no. 2 from Stafford – 9/10) and can project the memory on to the wall.
Like my Ma used to say, “When you go rootin’ around in the back of your mind, you never know what your gonna dredge up, so just hope it’s a good one but be ready for a bad one. This poem is definitely a good one and your cinema plays some nice picture shows. 🙂
True, true Val and sometimes we create fabricated memories as well – memory is a strange thing 🙂
Please add the end quote for me. Tired old broad here.
Oh dear – I’m passing you an instant coffee through the screen (but don’t think that will help somehow).
Awesome piece, love poetry & cinema together! Oh, tried to e-mail the other day and gmail cracked it with the address – but I’m happy to chat about editing etc if you still wanted to – here’s my e-mail ( mountain0ash[at]gmail[dot]com )
So do I 🙂 I like the way this one turned out. I’ll email you – thanks Ashley.
Oooh, a beautiful, evocative, and oh-so-poignant take on memories. A delight to read.
Thanks Thomma 🙂
Beautiful and cinematic.
Thanks Cocoyea 🙂
Sweet !
I love the lemon trees the best.
Welcome back :)thanks opoetoo