Posts By Dave Bonta
hollow by Peter Stephens
A Moving Poems production, with the cooperation of Nic S. at Whale Sound, who agreed to let me use her reading for the soundtrack, and the author, who perhaps unwisely gave his permission without any constraints whatsoever. Read Peter’s original text at his blog, Slow Reads. I think it’s a spectacular poem, and I hope my video does it justice — or at least excites interest in the poet and the reader.
I found the rest of the soundtrack at ccMixter, and a public-domain film to poach footage from at the Prelinger Archives (just two of the many online resources I’ve found for videopoem makers — check out the whole list).
A Fire in Ice by Marly Youmans
Paul Digby designed and created this video, which I am slotting into the “concrete poetry” category (even though the text is in rhyming couplets) on the strength of its last few seconds, which to me also perform the essential function of suggesting additional meanings beyond those immediately obvious in the text itself. Marly Youmans reads her poem, which is from her new collection The Throne of Psyche.
Die Farben dieser Welt (Colours of the World) by Rainer Schippers
Rainer Schippers is responsible for the music as well as the poem. George P. Schnyder “Filmed with the GH1 and a Sony HC1 (for the 8mm Stuff).”
Prodigal by Kona Macphee
Alastair Cook‘s 11th filmpoem. His description at Vimeo is worth quoting in full:
Prodigal is a film of Kona Macphee‘s poem, which was born from Andrew Philip’s project for the second Hidden Door festival, held in Edinburgh in October 2010: I was asked to record a reading of the poem. As I read it, I felt its power and resolved to make a filmpoem. I commissioned a cello piece from Rebecca Rowe and we performed this live at the Poetry Association of Scotland‘s meeting on 9th March 2011, at the Scottish poetry Library. A new direction for these perhaps, the addition of live performance… but the work is as dark and mercurial as ever.
My Love for You is So Embarrassingly by Todd Boss
Deb Kirkeeide designed and animated this motionpoem for a poem by Todd Boss.
Cet Amour (This Love) by Jacques Prévert
I didn’t expect to like this, but I did. Noah Oros directs. English subtitles are included.
Fearless Laughter: Yusef Komunyakaa’s Advice to Young Poets
A video created by Sampsonia Way magazine for Rattapallax. Komunyakaa was interviewed by Elizabeth Hoover, and the video production and editing are by Glen Wood.
Walking & Falling by Laurie Anderson
The video is titled “Step,” filmed by Pascal Rekoert and released as a podcast by NYC’s Flexicurve Dance Company in 2008. Anderson recorded the spoken-word piece for her 1982 album Big Science, and that’s the recording featured here.
Videopoem contest: now with prizes!
I’ve revised the last paragraph of the contest announcement to read:
You can enter as many times as you like. From all the entries, we’ll select an indeterminate number of finalists to feature on the main site. Howie has generously offered to give copies of his books Rumble Strip, Anomalies, and Disaster Mode to his top three favorites, with the first place winner getting all three, second place the first two, and third place getting the last. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Howie’s academic publications include three book-length studies of film and culture, so I’m grateful for his offer to help judge the contest, as well.
Condition of Fire: seven poems by JL Williams
Condition of Fire is the debut collection from JL Williams, published by Shearsman. The author’s reading of seven poems from the book is combined with a commissioned sound work by Luca Nasciuti in this new filmpoem by Alastair Cook.
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Ten minutes of campy goodness: a silent-film-style adaptation of the classic poem directed by Adam Gollner, and starring Liane Balaban, Dave Lawrence, Tamar Amir, Miska Gollner, Jonathan Shatzky and Tracy Martin. You will probably either love it or hate it.
The complete poem, together with a free audiobook, is here.
