“The Foghorn” by Rosalind Palermo Stevenson

1.  sound of the foghorn and the ocean
_________________loud, persistent, repeating
2.  view of the ocean from the cliff
3.  closeup, waves over rocks
4.  wind, reeds, water
5.  ocean, front to side
6.  ocean, front to other side
7.  ocean
8.  waves to shore

The dream is true. All dreams are true.
_________________________(Antonin Artaud)

9.  long shot over rocks
___________first appearance of the younger woman
10.  closeup of the waves moving
___________up on the rocks
___________the younger woman stumbling on the rocky shore
11.  closeup of the younger woman walking against the bottom of the cliff wall
12.  closeup of the rocks
___________the rocky shore

I have a feeling of harshness, of landscapes as if sculpted, of swaying patches of ground covered over with a sort of cool sand, and they mean:
_________________________regret, disappointment, abandonment, separation,
_________________________when will we meet again?
_________________________________(Antonin Artaud)

13.  closeup of the second woman older than the first standing looking
___________from the top of the cliff
14.  medium shot of the second woman on the top of the cliff
___________and with her a pack of large dogs
15.  medium shot of the second woman
___________surrounded by the dogs
16.  repeat shot, angle shift
___________and distant
17.  repeat shot, angle shift
___________and closer
18.  closeup of the second woman looking up
19.  medium shot of the second woman
___________barbed wire in front of the woman

Nothing so resembles love as he appeal of certain dream landscapes, the encirclement of certain
hills by a clay-like material whose forms seem molded in our thoughts.
________________________(Antonin Artaud)

20.  circular movement of the camera around the
___________younger woman and the second woman
___________at a table eating
___________continuous shot
21.  a sumptuous feast
22.  medium shot of the second woman
___________she moves a mobile that is hanging above the table
___________looks into the camera
23.  closeup of the mobile crossing in front of the
___________second woman’s face
24.  closeup of the younger woman
___________she looks frightened
25.  closeup of the second woman eating
___________licking her fingers
26.  closeup of the younger woman
___________in profile
27.  closeup of the second woman
___________drinking
28.  closeup of the younger woman
___________eating
29.  closeup of the second woman, under lit and dark

When will we meet again? When will the earthy taste of your lips again touch my anxious spirit? Earth is like some kind of whirlwind of mortal lips. Life scoops up ahead of us the pit of all the caresses that somehow we missed. What can we do with this angel at our side, whose apparition never happened?
_________________________________(Antonin Artaud)

30.  medium shot of the younger woman
___________coming down the staircase
31.  medium shot of the man
___________who is he?
32.  medium shot of the man
___________his body as if descending onto the camera
___________down onto the camera
___________down onto the camera laughing
33.  medium shot to close up
___________the younger woman coming down the staircase
___________the second woman standing behind her
34.  under lit shot of the man
___________darkness of the lighting against his
___________blond hair
___________and pale skin
35.  medium shot to closeup of the younger woman
___________running down the stairs
36.  closeup to medium shot of the man
___________down onto the younger woman
37.  closeup of the younger woman
___________looking up
38.  medium shot of the man
___________pulling at groin
39.  closeup of the man
___________looking up

Will all our sensations be forever intellectual, and will all our dreams never succeed in kindling a soul whose feelings will help us die?
___________________________________(Antonin Artaud)

40.  medium shot outdoors
___________the camera moving between reeds
___________leading to the ocean
41.  closeup of the man
___________in the reeds
___________the suggestion of an embryo
42.  tilted closeup of the man
43.  closeup of the man
___________as seen through his hair
___________which is falling over his face
___________the suggestion of an embryo
44.  medium shot of the man
___________looking
45.  series of quick cuts of the man
___________in the reeds
46.  continuing
47.  continuing
48.  the camera as if
___________running through the reeds
49.  the man as if
___________an apparition

What is this death we are alone in forever, where love never teaches us the way?
_________________________(Antonin Artaud)

50.  the ocean, the shore, under lit
___________in closeup
___________in medium shot to closeup
51.  large wooden posts against the shoreline
___________the remains of a structure
52.  wind, reeds, ocean
53.  a long panning shot up the face of the cliff
___________and fade
54.  the continuing sound of the foghorn and the ocean
___________loud, persistent, repeating

*
Rosalind Palermo Stevenson is the author of the novel The Absent, the novella Insect Dreams, and the chapbook Kafka At Rudolf Steiner’s. Insect Dreams has also been published in the anthologies Poe’s Children (edited by Peter Straub) and Trampoline (edited by Kelly Link). Her experimental story “The Guest” is included in the anthology Wild Dreams: The Best of Italian Americana, and her short fiction and prose poems appear in literary journals including Spinning Jenny, First Intensity, Drunken Boat, Conjunctions, Washington Square, Skidrow Penthouse, Literal Latte, Italian Americana, and Quick Fiction. She lives in New York City where she is currently working with the concept of speculative autobiography and the female Adam in Adame.

© LIT Magazine Issue #32, 2018