Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.
Twice As Many Stars is a documentary project conceived and produced by writer/journalist Gracie Wenner and directed by filmmaker Ruby Soudant. This project uncovers the life of late poet Laura Gilpin, the author behind the viral poem “The Two Headed Calf,” and investigates the persistent digital legacy of the poem itself, which has a cult following in online spaces such as Tumblr, X, and Tiktok.
Wenner’s research on Laura Gilpin began in the spring of 2021, after the realization that she had spent years seeing “The Two-Headed Calf” proliferate across multiple social media platforms, but little information about the author could be found online, including evidence of her other work. Illustrations, comics, tattoos, tweets, and short-form content continue to reference “The Two-Headed Calf,” while the author herself has long been out of print.
The poem exists almost metaphysically, through a collective appreciation and devotion to a scarcely sourced image that has become a resounding and repetitive symbol in the lives of its fans, despite little documentation about its origin other than the occasional credit.
Over the last year, the artists, both fans of the poem, have laid groundwork and established a warm relationship with the family, relaying to them the remarkable impact of Gilpin’s work, of which the family had been previously unaware.
Following first contact, Soudant and Wenner traveled to Fairhope, Alabama, and Indianapolis, Indiana and filmed interviews with Laura’s siblings and nephew, piecing together Gilpin’s extraordinary life as a nurse, teacher, student, hospital-reformist, and poet. In addition to her family, the documentarians have interviewed many of the friends and colleagues Gilpin was close to during her residence in New York, as well as painters, tattoo-artists, and songwriters based in NYC who’ve created work inspired by the poem. Wenner and Soudant are now in the process of connecting with fans of Gilpin’s work nationwide.
