~ May 2009 ~

Two Tanka by Ono no Komachi

A video by Portuguese artist Bruno Gaspar illustrating a tanka by Ono no Komachi. Here’s an English version:

It’s too cold to sleep
in this lodging on the way
to Iwanoue.
Oh monk, if it’s all the same to you,
could I borrow your robes?

And here’s a short film by Bryan Lacey. The interplay between the classical Japanese poem and modern folk/country song certainly creates an interesting mood, and one worlds away from the original court milieu.

Multiple English versions of the tanka in this video — Ono no Komachi’s most famous poem — are collected here.

Robots are Blue

Not a video poem, but a short film about robots and poetry by Bill Sebastian. Enjoy.

Stealing Sugar from the Castle by Robert Bly

Ithaca by C. P. Cavafy

Poem by C. P. Cavafy (Kavafis)

From the 1996 film Kavafis, directed by Yannis Smaragdis

An English translation of the poem read by Sean Connery, and illustrated by cliched images in a video by babylonianman

Trick Photography by Aaron Fagan

Poem by Aaron Fagan

Film by K. Erik Ino