Poem Inspires Oscar-nominated Animated Short Film

With all the Oscar buzz this week, a nominated animated short film this year has a poetry connection. Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata's Academy Award Nomination for Best Animated Short with "Negative Space" is based on a poem of the same name by Ron Koertge.

Ron's prose poem (flash fiction?) begins:

My dad taught me to pack: lay out everything. Put back half. Roll things
that roll. Wrinkle-prone things on top of cotton things. Then pants, waist-
to-hem. Nooks and crannies for socks. Belts around the sides like snakes.

You can see how the filmmakers use the poem for their animated short. Here is the trailer for the film:

Ron Koertge's poem was published in his collection, Sex World  (2014, Red Hen Press).

The film's website is at www.tinyinventions.com/main/negative-space