Nationality: United States
Blink by Morton Marcus
Poem (“Blink”) by Morton Marcus
Video by Rachel Burnham with Media Mike Hazard and David Bengtson from Listen Up! youth media network
A nicely minimalistic treatment, though I’m not sure why they changed the title. Hearing it in a kid’s voice really adds to the impact of the poem for me.
En la calle San Sebastian by Martín Espada
Poem and reading by Martín Espada
Animation by Kwok Tung Shuen for the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Everywhere series
Spacebar by Heather McHugh
http://youtu.be/1sXiMz9q1TI
Poem and reading by Heather McHugh
Animation by Braulio Garcia for the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Everywhere series
Meta-Free-Phor-All
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Meta-Free-Phor-All: Shall I Nail Thee to a Summer’s Day? | ||||
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Something for April Fool’s Day — and the first day of (Inter-)National Poetry Month — from a king of fools. This episode of the Colbert Report aired on April 19, 2007. Colbert seems to genuinely like poetry, and has interviewed a number of poets on his show. I like the way this skit plays off the misconception popular with people who “just don’t understand poetry”: that a poem (or metaphor) is basically a code with one correct solution. I’m also impressed by Robert Pinksy’s stage presence and acting skills.
Incision by Jillian Weise
Poem by Jillian Weise, from An Amputee’s Guide to Sex
Animation by John Roberts
From the publisher’s description:
The Amputee’s Guide to Sex is an authentic exploration of disability and sexuality. Tired of seeing “cripples” appear as asexual characters in all forms of media, Weise took on a subject close to home: her own disability. This does not mean that these poems “happened” to Weise in real life. While based on the experience of an above-the-knee amputee, the poems have a life of their own.
The Frigidaires of Idaho by Virginia Shank
Poem and animation by Virginia Shank, with music by One Ring Studio
A rare example of a poet making a video interpretation of her own work — and in claymation yet! She gets huge respect from me. I found more information about the project in a blog post.
It’s nice to see that months of work have turned out so well and it’s hard to believe that Virginia found time to sculpt each frame by hand (for a total of literally thousands of individual frames) when she had three classes to take, a literary magazine (Fugue) to read for, and two classes to teach. But she’s like that – when she’s not making the best sushi for a hundred miles or singing Nancy Sinatra at our weekly MFA karaoke sessions, she’s doing THIS.
One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
Film by Erica Tachoir
One of the more unique and ambitious approaches to the video poetry genre I’ve seen so far. I like the meta- aspect here, what the film says about readers and how poems intertwine with their lives. I also like the implicit judgement against people who can’t tolerate poetic expression.
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
Poem by William Carlos Williams
Animation by Lee Luker, with music by Six Organs of Admittance
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Written and directed by Kira Rouse with art by Jeffrey Rouse and sound by Digital Scientist
Hard to say what WCW would’ve made of this one, but it’s an interesting testament to the ubiquity of his poem.
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