What I Meant To Tell You: An American Poet's State Of The Union

Country: U S A

Director:

Category: all documentaries

Short Synopsis: This is a 'state of the union address' of a dissident American poet as he deplores the U.S. Governments assault on the Constitution and the Environment. It is also the story of a father and his film maker son reuniting through their shared passion for justice and the natural world. What I Meant to Tell You suggests what it is we wish we had spoken to the people in our lives, as well as those words of political dissent which we must speak now in response to our threatened civil rights.

Detailed Synopsis: This film is the story of an 86 year old, war veteran poet, Peter Kane Dufault, as he comes to terms with his past and the collective sense of a threatened future. This is a story about connection and loss, both personal and political. Through on screen interactions with his son, two nobel laureates and the actor Chris Noth, Peter reveals how poetic language and imagination can bridge the rifts that open between individuals and the larger political, environmental and emotional landscape of their lives. The actor Chris Noth pays a visit to the poet, who was once his American History teacher and soccer coach. He recalls the formative influence the old man had on his life. They play soccer together. Peter and his son travel to Cape May to find the declining American Kestrel. Peter recites a poem about his deceased daughter who brought him a fledgling Kestrel to raise. A kestrel appears as if 'quarried out of a rainbow;' the symbol of all that is vanishing from whats left of the American wilderness. He expresses his outrage at the past administrations piecemeal demolition of the Constitution in a poem called' Blues Recitative,' and acknowledges his disappointment with the present administration. In the end Peter admits that he's glad that he doesn't have to teach American History anymore. He observes a colony of seals plunging into a stormy surf, reflecting on the mortal entity that the earth has become. He walks away, alone, vanishing into the mist.