~ Videopoems ~
Videopoetry, filmpoetry, cinepoetry, poetry-film… the label doesn’t matter. What matters is that text and images enter into dialogue, creating a new, poetic whole.
Separation by W. S. Merwin
A highly imaginative use of Merwin’s short poem in a film called “Coping,” which Grace Cho says is the “first video/stop-motion that I made for my video class at Simon Fraser University.”
Rio Grande by Enrique Cabrera
Another animation by Francesca Talenti. Enrique Cabrera appears to be an Austin, Texas-based poet, though I couldn’t turn up a good webpage for him.
The Winter Rain by Wendell Berry
Time for another winter-themed poem to inspire those of us weathering the summer heat. This video is by The Erie Wire; the filmmaker isn’t identified.
The Dot by Moniza Alvi
http://www.vimeo.com/12538662
British-Pakistani poet Moniza Alvi’s poem as interpreted by a student filmmaker in British Columbia.
Autobiography by Djelloul Marbrook
Video trailers for books are becoming increasingly common, and sometimes, as here, they take the form of videopoetry. This is one of two trailers by Brent Robison for Djelloul Marbrook’s prize-winning collection from Kent State University Press, Far From Algiers.
Marbrook has had a distinguished career in journalism and now authors a blog on literary and cultural affairs.
Cold by Emily Kendal Frey
With the northeastern U.S. just coming out of a heat wave, winter seems a far-off and delicious prospect. This is a poem from the collection The New Planet by Porland, Oregon-based writer Emily Kendal Frey. The video is by Zachary Schomburg, with whom Frey has also done some collaborative writing, according to this interview with her at The Collagist. For this project they also brought in Emily’s sister Elinor Frey, an accomplished cellist, whose music helped create a very wintry ambience indeed.
Television by Todd Alcott
Beth Fulton writes,
The inspiration of this video comes from Todd Alcott’s poem, Television. I own no rights to his reading of the poem and intend only to share my own personal interpretation. Hope you like!
This is to my knowledge the first English-language videopoem to have gone viral. I first saw it last week on Facebook, where it seems to have been posted quite heavily. It’s been played 445,537 times in just three months, making it currently the most popular videopoem on Vimeo, and second only to Juan Delcan’s animation of Billy Collins’ “The Dead” on YouTube, which has amassed 761,494 views — but over the course of three years. So “Television”‘s refrain, “Look at me!” seems to be working.
Todd Alcott is a screenwriter living in Santa Monica, and judging by the comment he left below the video on Vimeo, seems to be a friend or acquaintance of the filmmaker doesn’t know the filmmaker (though he likes the video — see comments).
Stealing by Carol Ann Duffy
Update: this video is no longer online.
Directed by Gerard Docherty. Aside from the sloppy spelling, this is a fine video and seemed worth sharing. Duffy is, of course, the current Poet Laureate of Great Britain. I assume this video was made without her permission, and thus represents a kind of stealing itself — and/or an homage and act of generosity, depending on your view of intellectual property rights.
I’m going back to posting five videos a week here, at least until I can shrink the current queue of draft posts. So much good stuff coming out these days!
