Those of you who have taken any of my classes know how I’ve grown to appreciate poetry during the last several years. I also think it is applicable to screenwriting. For example, since we only have 120 pages to tell our story, screenwriters have to learn how to create the greatest impact with the fewest amount of words; poets face the same challenge. Also, a great screenplay is a visual one; so, too, poems. But one of the most interesting comparisons is how a poem can take a moment in time and deeply immerse the reader into it; and isn’t that one of the key tasks screenwriters face when writing scenes, each scene a ‘moment in time,’ and we have to describe the place, mood, and action, in such a way that the reader goes into that story world?

With that in mind, I stumbled upon a wonderful poem the other day called “Things to Do in the Belly of a Whale,” by Dan Albergotti. First off, what a great ‘high concept’ for a poem: a person stuck in the belly of a whale. And when you read the poem, track how it draws you into this place, the protagonist’s world view and world of experience.

Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days.
Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires
with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals.
Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices.
Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way
for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review
each of your life’s ten million choices. Endure moments
of self-loathing. Find the evidence of those before you.
Destroy it. Try to be very quiet, and listen for the sound
of gears and moving water. Listen for the sound of your heart.
Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope,
where you can rest and wait. Be nostalgic. Think of all
the things you did and could have done. Remember
treading water in the center of the still night sea, your toes
pointing again and again down, down into the black depths.

The poem is included in this book “The Boatloads”.