[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/35237883 w=500&h=331]
My nephew Elliot is truly insane and brilliant, which I’m pretty sure makes him the perfect artist. In this video he is 4 years old, but now he is the ripe old age of 5. I made this short film in his honour when I was first teaching myself how to edit videos and because his preschool teachers wrote these masterful summaries of each kid in the class after their poetry unit that I just knew I had to share with the world in any way possible.
PLEASE watch the video to the end where Elliot basically becomes YODA for a brief moment. And are you captivated by the person narrating? It is my friend George from my Adbusters days and I want to thank him again for bringing this video to life!
And for a super Wednesday bonus, here is the write-up in it’s full glory:
Elliot Peat-Bercovitch is known for using the fewest words to convey the greatest meaning, as he does in his very first poem which consists of a single line: peanut butter daddy.
His words are few, but his vocabulary vast and he enjoys weaving recently acquired vocabulary into his poems:
“Bravo Eric!/ Bravo Kai!/ Bravo Sarah Watkins/ Bravo! Bravo!”
On the darker side, when evoking the cruelty of nature, he declares, “I see a shark/ With so bright teeth./ And…A little dolphin/ In blue water.” In a later poem, he shows his tender concern for yet another vulnerable sea animal, by presenting the poignant image of an orphan: “Little baby whale/ Trying to find food.” In another untitled work, he uses the simile “monster night./ Looks like spaghetti,” to brilliantly convey the mental turmoil of a three year old. Iconoclastic, Elliot — like his namesake, TS — is not afraid to lean toward the macabre, as he does in the following line:
“I want to give it/ To my mommy and daddy/ When I get home./ It’s a monster heart.”
This poet has shown himself to be a master of paradox in his poem “Bears”: “Bears are really nice./ Sometimes bears go in caves./ Bears are not nice/ Because their babies go to school crying.” One would have to wonder about the autobiographical nature of this poem and his unsympathetic commentary on how his contemporary poets view separation.
Finally, we must note Bercovitch’s ability to use the poetic device of onomatopoeia: my poem is the dragons./ rarr. rarr. kkuu.
[Do you want to read more inspiring poetry from kids? I’ve thought about making all these write ups into a book called BEATNIK BABIES and taking the baby poetry market by storm.]
