Life is short, though I keep this from my children.

Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine

in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,

a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways

I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least

fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative

estimate, though I keep this from my children.

For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.

For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,

sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world

is at least half terrible, and for every kind

stranger, there is one who would break you,

though I keep this from my children. I am trying

to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,

walking you through a real shithole, chirps on

about good bones: This place could be beautiful,

right? You could make this place beautiful.

A film by

Anais La Rocca

A poem by

Maggie Smith

Executive Producers

Todd Boss
Egg Creative
Claire McGirr

The Mill

Ian Bearce
Zu Al-Kadiri

Starring

Tamayo Toler
Natalie Rodriguez
Sufyan Sigg

Produced By

Tia Perkins

Director of Photography

Adam Carboni

Post Producer

Cynthia Louissant

Editor

Leanne Belgiorno

VFX Supervisor

Kieran Harrahan

Colorist 

Micheal Rossiter

Original Music by

Dario Eskenazi

Sound Design by 

Gramercy Post

Title Design by

Delcan & Co

“Good Bones” a poem by Maggie Smith. ©2016 Maggie Smith used by permission.
This poem originally appeared in Waxwing, collected in Good Bones (Tupelo Press).