Compliment is probably my favorite poem by Rives. It's meaningful, has a really cool rhythm, is hysterical, and makes me want to watch it again (which i have many times now). I thought it was filled with awesome ideas; patchwork bath, fireworks for poor folks, why men and women's shirts button on opposite sides, weird with a capital We, giggle with lips closed like you've got a secret little moon in your mouth, sunflower growing in the courtyard of an old folks home (you mean things to people on a daily basis)
I thought that the climax was effective, and really caught my attention, especially with the beatboxer's pause and then sort of explosion of sound imitation:
I said once Ohhh I wish i had a picture
and you said Ohhh I wish that you and I had hot sex
you gave me a pedicure and elves showed up at our doorstep
with a pizza to tell us Jesus just built a treehouse in the backyard
and he'd like to meet us both so hop in hot shot.
I love when the beat boxer (Joshua) takes the harmonica and beatboxes into it, and how, seemingly (although it was probably planned) spontaneously Rives compared how pretty the woman ("you") was to Joshua's solo.
1 comment:
I admit it--this is one of my favorites too : ) And sometimes I think one of the things I admire about him is his ability to say such wonderful loving things. I don't think we are good at that in our culture. We are so much better at criticizing and being skeptical. And actually, it is a great thing to "mean things to people on a daily basis." Not just a good thing, but a great thing.
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