A Silent War - Rooms by the Sea (B.S.L.)

Back

Details

Location

Belfast, University of Atypical

Year

2021

Date

Length

02min 43sec

Audio

silent

Format

Digital

colour

Source

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive

Courtesy

Hands That Sign, Paula Clarke, Ross Thompson

Rights Holder

Northern Ireland Screen, Ross Thompson

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Rooms by the Sea by Ross Thompson, written in Bangor during 2020 Lockdown

      after Edward Hopper 

This inverted space croons like an ocarina
as a cat’s paw sweeps through my careening 

beachside home, suspended, as if by balloons,
past billowing waters and shifting dunes

to the great beyond. Slow days were once infrequent.
Now, it tastes all the more sublime to relinquish

the interminable daily grind and embrace
a more forgiving pace: the incantation of waves,

salt and wind. The interplay of the world without
and the one within would make me a devout 

acolyte if I were not an anchorite 
yet the silken way in which morning light

spreads like sap across the floor’s geometry 
affirms afresh the day’s perfect symmetry. 

Given the choice, I would not trade all of this 
for a free pass to Shangri-La or Atlantis.

Credits

Rooms by the Sea by Ross Thompson
BSL translation and performance by Paula Clarke
Filmed in University of Atypical by Stuart Calvin
A Silent War Creative Producers: Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell & Ann Donnelly
Funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen

Links

×

Please scroll to review and accept our terms and conditions (last updated on ) before viewing the moving images content.

To remember your terms and conditions acceptance, you can register as a site member or allow cookies on your browser.