Professor's Poem Being Made into Movie

A Ball State University professor's quirky poem about a woman's cremated remains being mistaken for cocaine will soon be seen on the big screen.

Written by English professor Patti White, the poem "Tackle Box" is being transformed into a 15- to 20-minute movie by a group led by Matthew Mebane, who is making his directorial debut.

"Matthew read the poem two years ago and immediately contacted me about optioning it for a possible movie short," White said. "I never thought it would go this far. Rarely are poems made into movies.

"Matthew was a pleasure to work with because he was very enthusiastic about the project," she said. "He had just finished working on the 'Charlie's Angels' sequel (operating a digital preview system) and then got people together to work on filming my poem."

"Tackle Box" is also the name of the newly formed production company created for the film's operation and distribution. The poem was written by White after she read a newspaper account about the death of an elderly woman and how her cremated remains were stolen.

In her offbeat poem, White imagines the thieves taking the woman's ashes from her husband's tackle box, where he kept them as a reminder of their 50-year relationship. However, the thieves mistake the ashes for cocaine and begin to sell them on the street.

White then describes how the quaint fishing community is soon overrun by drug abusers.

The poem, also the title of a recently published book that features a collection of White's works, won the 2001 Anhinga Prize for Poetry.

The movie was filmed in April and May in Charleston, S.C. Post-production work is being completed this summer. The film will be screened this fall in Charleston and may be shown at several film festivals over the next year.

White visited the movie set in late April and early May, assisting the crew as a creative consultant.

"I think the whole production was charmed because the weather was perfect," she said. "I had the movie in my head before it was filmed, and it was a perfect match. Everything from the actors to the sets was just as I had imagined."