The Black Marble (2022)
3.42 minutes, Colour and Black & White, Silent.
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Original format: super 8
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The black marble
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A darkness in my periphery,
abstract and deep
carpets my feet with soft doubts.
Stalks and mimics
my movements
makes me walk backwards and repeat.
A distant and dark fog
that followed and obscured
until I turned to see.
What is a worse sight?
Gallows that are empty,
or one that is full?
As I looked –
you shrank, in size
but not in mass.
A refined hard black-
so dense no light can ever bounce back.
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You became a tiny marble that I swallowed.
You anchor my heart
and pinball around my head.
Heavier than lead,
as reliable as a good friend.
A tight bind.
You and I.
Keep me confined, and close.
My black marble.
One day I’ll hold you in my open palm.
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Rachel Maloney (2022).