Imagery as Poetry in Film: Koyaanisqatsi

(n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.)

In her aptly title chapter, “Imagery,” renowned American poet Mary Oliver does well to explain figurative language, enlightening her readers with examples of metaphor, personification, allusion, and images found in poems from the likes of Elizabeth Bishop, Walt Whitman, and more. Oliver pays close attention to the idea of the image itself, that thing which becomes the centerpiece of a poem, opening up a window of opportunity for the writer to describe in full detail what lay before him in the natural world or in the world of his imagination. With some conscious consideration for detail, the poet’s world becomes a line of verse.

That said, I would like you to watch the film called, Koyaanisqatsi, a title taken from the Hopi Indian word for “Life out of balance.” Directed by Godfrey Reggio and scored by famous “minimalist” composer, Philip Glass, the film presents a collage of images taken from both the natural and industrial worlds, juxtaposing (that is, pairing) pictures together in a way that reveals the stark irony of the over-technologized society in which we live today.

The images in the film should hopefully inspire in you, not only a sense of paradox, but also of metaphor in general. The question you should ask yourselves as you view the film is: What do the images flooding my mind from the film represent?

And so the directions are as follows:

1. Watch the film. Listen to the music.
2. Pay close attention to the details of the images presented in the film and the music that is interfused with those images.
3. Jot down as you view the film your basic impressions of the images and the music. What mood does it create? What emotions are expressed through the interfusion of music and image?
4. Once you (we) are finished viewing the film, create a poem—free form or in a specific meter of your own choosing—that recreates the imagery presented in the film with new meaning, new life, new metaphor.