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CHALLENGE #1

Pather Panchali
Directed by Satyajit Ray
1955 - India - 115 min

Summary:
The time is early twentieth century, a remote village in Bengal.The film deals with a Brahmin family, a priest - Harihar, his wife Sarbajaya, daughter Durga, and his aged cousin Indir Thakrun - struggling to make both ends meet. Harihar is frequently away from home on work. The wife is raising her mischievous daughter Durga and caring for elderly cousin Indir, whose independent spirit sometimes irritates her... Apu is born. With the little boy's arrival, happiness, play and exploration uplift the children's daily life.


POEMS FROM THIS CHALLENGE:



CHILDHOOD
By Barbara Wagner

I will follow you
through the reeds and the water
to the places that comfort you.
I will listen as you listen,
watch as you watch,
feel what you feel.
I will call to you when I am lost
and feed from the food you give me.
I will follow you
because I am small
and have not found my own path,
because I trust you
to know the way home;
I trust you to turn my fears into wisdom,
my doubts into truth.
I will follow you
because you are the soil
in which my roots will sprout,
roots that will hold be against the wind
and nourish me from the heart of the earth.
When I am tall and alone,
beyond searching,
anchored to my own place of comfort,
with branches that shade my own field,
each new leaf will burn green
with memories of days
I followed you.

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LOCKED
By Hanoch Guy

Rotting watermelons beyond the gate.
A rusting sign on the lock:
Danger live mines!
A child of eight tries to roll a watermelon towards the gate
with a hooked bar.
In the field a grenade explodes
The child falls with a watermelon by the gate.

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VEDA
By Eileen Cubbage

truth tower tall
emits thought waves of two-point static
to persuade me and presume godly reign
whispering diagonal signals 'cross a puddle of secrets
trickling down our collective spine
and swaddled in temporal folds
suck blink pause
my horizon is vast grey wheat and wind-
is anyone out here?
change is seeking furrowed souls to inhabit
downward glances will avoid her nearing eye
spit stalk sigh
ah! foolish king why do you follow me
i'm twice your height and thrice your queen-
you hide, i'll seek
you, the brahmin of youth
defiant in your foolish pursuit
hold dear your divining rod and shred all sweet marrow
sit eat wait
wait! you who runs so quickly toward kali
sever your pumping arms and pounding feet
before her dark strange smoke truly crosses your path
listen and embrace the illusion of silence
i am as you are wind-
we have avoided her today
but soon boy,
soon.

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