~ Nationality: United States ~

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.

Orphans by Raymond Luczak

The description at YouTube:

Why do so many Deaf people seem so clannish? In this clip, Raymond Luczak explains why in a poem from his book MUTE (A Midsummer Night’s Press). Naturally, it’s subtitled for those who don’t know American Sign Language (ASL).

I’m putting this in the Spoken Word category even though it’s clearly unspoken word. For more on the poet, check out his website. Luczak is also a filmmaker, with two documentaries and two ASL storytelling collections under his belt. Thanks to Nic at Voice Alpha, a blog devoted to the art and science of reading poetry, for this great find.

Meet the Bluffs by Cecelia Chapman

Cecelia Chapman directed the film and wrote the text, which may be read at Referential Magazine. The soundtrack was provided by Jeff Crouch (music) and Blaine Reininger (chant). At her tumblelog, Chapman contextualizes the film:

She does look like that art director that fired you, he the coke dealer at last years xmas party. But they are the inhabitants of apartments about to fall into the sea. MEET THE BLUFFS. They want the good life. Entertaining their friends drinking local cabs on the terrace watching the great fireball hit the horizon. Jogs on the beach. But wait! There is no more beach!

For a long time it has been apparent that the left side of the continental shelf, balanced on a plate that likes to shift, is slipping into the sea. But never doubt the selling power of California real estate agents and developers! Despite the bulldozers, workers hanging outside smoking, cranes throwing giant rocks into the sea to defend the cliff, an infinite variety of caterpillar equipment parked in the private parking lot, warning signs all over the area, midnight evacuations in soul-humbling storms to the apartment down the block, the apartments continue to rent. And the mile long cliff of small gated private communities continues to fall into the sea when the big north storms hit.

Subway by Charles Reznikoff

http://www.vimeo.com/20036498

I’ve been surprised to run across several videos for Reznikoff poems at Vimeo in the past month. This one’s by Canadian film student Alan Sencich with Jonny Page, Luke Banville and KinHang Ho.

I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger

Zooey Park made this four-minute short in NYC for a 72-hour contest for Asian-American filmmakers with the theme “Time’s Up.” I like the way Park recontextualized what is traditionally seen as a war poem, and I liked the moments of dead silence throughout the film.

Self Portrait by Edward Hirsch

http://www.vimeo.com/18203490

The wacky folks at Teleportal Readings say about this one:

We filmed esteemed poet Ed Hirsch during a shoot Teleportal did in collaboration with Rattapallax at the Bowery Poetry Club last summer. Though “trippy” isn’t a term we’d normally use to describe Hirsch’s work, the hand-painted, rotoscoped animation by Teleportal art director Scott Gelber makes the poet’s “Self Portrait” just that.

For more on Hirsch, see his page at the Poetry Foundation website.

Naming by Scott Edward Anderson

A new filmpoem by Scottish artist Alastair Cook for a piece by the American poet Scott Edward Anderson. Alastair notes, “Naming was premiered at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Edinburgh in January 2011; it was shot entirely on Kodachrome Super8 in 2010 and contains no post production, after effects or erstwhile digital trickery.”

Seasonally Affected by Hannah Stephenson

This film, called “Seasons,” was made in response to a poem Hannah just wrote and posted to her blog last Thursday. The anonymous filmmaker grow365 says, “This is part of my 365 project to do something creative every day. You can see other experiments at http://grow365.posterous.com […] It’s the first time I’ve ever done this sort of thing.” The soundtrack incorporates Erwin Schulhoff’s Sonata for Solo Violin, Second Movement, performed by Daniel Hope, which means of course that she’s in risk of YouTube stripping it out.

The poet herself also posted a video of the poem, also her first such effort. It’s extremely lo-fi, made with the camera on her laptop, but more imaginative than at least 90% of poem videos made in that fashion.

(The poet moved to Columbus, Ohio in December, and I keep wanting to shout, Put on a damn coat and hat, Hannah! You’re not in L.A. anymore!)

Render, Render by Thomas Lux

Good advice for anyone making a revolution. According to the note on YouTube,

This motionpoem was created by Jeff Saunders with Scott Olson, Ben Myrick, Adam Tow, Carly Zuckweiler, and Andre Durand. It was shot in Jeff’s studio. The audio is from The Academy Audio Archive POETS.org and was recorded at Poet’s House, March 29, 2004.

Inexplicably, Lux doesn’t appear to have a website or blog, though of course he’s published widely in treeflesh media.

Sounds (excerpt) by Roger Bonair-Agard

Carmen Kordas and Erika Harrsch, from the NYC-based collective VisionIntoArt, have envideoed a section of the Trinidadian poet’s reading to make a very compelling videopoem.

The Deer by Wendy Burk

A 16mm film by Audrey Smith and Jesse Moore. “The Deer” is available as a broadside from Kore Press.

November Graveyard by Sylvia Plath

Update: Video has been made private.

A new videopoem by Swoon titled “Red Lost Ghosts” remixes an old audio recording of Plath with other audio samples, video and stills to very good effect in what he calls

A remembrance-piece for Birkenau.
Not the blunt and awful images of the place, but the those images of horror hidden behind the automation of a wind-up-toy and the slight hope of some ‘forget-me-nots’
For the hope we will not forget that awful ‘machine’