image borrowed from hdwallpaperscool.com
Blackthorne
Cinemagenic Thirty-Five
Equus
“When Equus leaves, if he leaves at all, it will be with
your intestines in his teeth.”--Martin Dysart.
1(medium wide shot/fade-in) a high plateau vast meadow, dotted with
fat clumps of yellow wild flowers, punctuated by red Indian paint brush.
2(sound cue) harmonica & guitar.
3(medium close-up) Long dew-covered blades of tall grass waving in
a soft breeze.
4(sound cue) pleasant wind whoosh over the harmonica riff.
5(extreme wide shot) the eternal prairie with its verdant flats lying lush
between rambunctious rolling hillocks, a dark mountain range rough
on the horizon, the day’s sun rising blood red out of the blue haze in
the distance.
6(sound cue) horse herd whinnying midst far-off galloping hooves.
7(slow zoom-in crane shot to medium frame width) as we begin to pick
out twenty-plus equestrian dark dots rolling up white dust along the
right side of the frame.
8(sound cue) twin guitars & French horns.
9(cut to helicopter shot) skimming high over the prairie toward the horses.
10(shot begins to zoom & tighten) as the lens introduces the herd galloping
ever larger into the frame.
11(sound cue) wonderful rumble of pounding hooves, the larkful whinnying
of joyous horseflesh.
12(cut to medium wide shot) camera tracking the herd at ground level.
13(medium close up) Beautiful mustang heads, rippling muscles, long
manes & tails streaming, galloping at full speed.
14(cut to the same shot in slow motion) massive shoulder muscles undulating,
manes wind-swept, tails straight out.
15(sound cue) piano & banjo.
16(medium close-up) a tall magnificent Appaloosa stallion leading the herd,
running like the lyrics of an Apache song, like the paintings on Navajo drums,
like the stories told around Comanche campfires.
17(medium wide-shot) the great spotted stud slid to a stop & the small herd
halted behind him.
18(close-up) the stallion bobbing his head, his neck muscles bulging, staring
off to his right,
19(sound cue) Indian branch flute, train whistle, bison bellow.
20(camera dollys back) opening up the shot to include a bluff on the mesa
above the herd with a lone albino bison standing on its edge.
21(cut to medium close-up) the white buffalo as sentinel, as medicine brute.
22(sound cue) trills on Indian flute with choral chanting.
23(cut to medium wide shot) with the pair in counterpoint, the
white buffalo on the right side of the frame, the Appaloosa on
the left side, with the morning sun rising hot between them.
24(shift locale, close-up) two eagle feathers twitching, fluttering
from the back of a short-brimmed flat black hat.
25(camera dollys back) as we see an Indian wrangler in a corral;
a swarthy figure in the morning light, short & heavily muscled, wearing
a beaded vest, a white breechclout over leather breeches.
26(sound cue) horse snort-song over Indian snake rattle.
27(cut to wide shot) a horse-breaking corral, near the large Bronson
barns on the edge of town. The wrangler standing still in front of the
central breaking post, watching a chestnut mustang--a dozen cowpokes
perched on the fence around it.
28(close-up) the horse’s dark eyes as it shook its head.
29(two shot) the horse rearing back on its hind legs, showing itself to
be a mare.
30(close-up) the Indian’s face, smiling.
31(two-shot) the horse pawing at the ground, eying the breaking bridle
in the man’s brown calloused hands.
32(close-up) big hands with thick rope veins that stood out.
33(cut to medium close-up) a red-faced pot-bellied man in a drugstore
Western shirt, in an Eastern tan suit coat.
--Come on you half breed bastard, we don’t have all day--are you going
to fuck it or ride it?
34(medium close-up) The Indian giving no acknowledgement to the
taunting, intently watching the mare.
35(sound cue) long reedy trills on Indian branch flute.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets OLN
Would you like to hear the author read this Cinemagenic Poem to you?
I love the way you have portrayed the relationship between the Indian and the mare & the fact that the Indian did not pay any attention to the pot-bellied man's jeers!
ReplyDeleteI think you have showed so much tension between animals and man.. without even saying it, the scenes is so filled with emotions, the air is tense like a bowstring ready to break (and I was waiting for the whit buffalo to reappear)
ReplyDeletesee... you paint such vivid and complex scenes with words...even with color...even with sound...
ReplyDeleteFascinating cinema poem
ReplyDeletegreat images and cues
Your scenes are usually full of dialogue, but this one was just colour and movement and sound, with just one short line of script. I really want to see it on-screen now...
ReplyDeleteI like that I could listen to you read it! So much detail packed in to this share.
ReplyDeletenot only do you tell a story in these pieces, but you do so in such a beautiful way, such as "running like the lyrics of an Apache song, like the paintings on Navajo drums,
ReplyDeletelike the stories told around Comanche campfires." the "instructions" are pure poetry.
Love the details and sounds of the scenery ~ I specially like this part:
ReplyDeletea tall magnificent Appaloosa stallion leading the herd,
running like the lyrics of an Apache song, like the paintings on Navajo drums,
like the stories told around Comanche campfires.
My favorite words from this:
ReplyDelete"medicine brute". My brain jumped; I love it when that happens.
Oh, so glad I stopped in to read your latest Blackthorne - scene. The imagery is amazing, yellow wild flowers, punctuated by red Indian paint brush..running like the lyrics of an Apache song..oh I can hear the song it is just a beat away. A horse with a wild spirit, but can it be tamed? A great read my friend, I do enjoy a good tale and the sound of a branch flute.
ReplyDeleteNever a disappointment...you always deliver..
Oh, I like this more and more. So vivid the visuals and all the sounds. Even instructions are poetic. I read and then closed my eyes and listed to you read. OMGoodness...shivers.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully done!
ReplyDelete"Bronson" moment! Hahaha! Glenn, I am often too lazy to make your Blog print big enough to read, so I often leave your poem before reaching the end--but I want you to know as one theatre person to another how much I love the vertical moments you provide so each second has all of its dimensions. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteSo many layers to this scene - expertly crafted.
ReplyDeleteYou owned me with this: running like the lyrics of an Apache song, like the paintings on Navajo drums,
ReplyDeletelike the stories told around Comanche campfires.
Glad we got the white buffler back here, too. Good medicine. Just like when I read and take in the juices of my friend's blackthorn(e).
Imagining each sound cue and related visual is very rich, Glenn. You truly have a gift.
ReplyDeleteOh GOD a beautiful elegant and wise description of what the red man knows that will never word the white man's nose.. eyes.. ears.. touch.. and feeling for the rest of ALLTHATIS..:)
ReplyDeletei loved this my friend Glenn.. and oh GOD.. words are overtaking me and this reminds me.. it's time to out of this room.. and Spring again too!..:)
Oh wow, Glenn, this is so alive! I love your descriptions - so deep - empowering for the reader. And the intertwining of stage direction really brought this piece into its true fullness! Beautiful job Glenn! Also - loved to hear you reading this - so awesome!
ReplyDeleteGlenn - this was really good, and I liked your reading of it.
ReplyDeleteWe went up to the Pow-wow in Montana one year - and as you walk through the area around the arena, you pass through the camps where the Teepees mix with the airstreams and the tents and you see kids of all ages on horseback, many bareback.
Your poem took me back there.
ah, the prelude to the break. excellent ~
ReplyDelete