Poet: Gaia Holmes

House Clearance by Gaia Holmes

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A charming stop-motion animation by Terry Wragg, who notes that

‘House Clearance’ was first published in Lifting the Piano with One Hand by Gaia Holmes, published by Comma Press (2013).

Terry Wragg is a member of the Leeds Animation Workshop, and had a filmpoem called Working Metal screened in the The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival last year. For more from Gaia Holmes, visit her poetry blog (and, of course, check out her other poetry videos at Moving Poems).

Ice Hotel by Gaia Holmes

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James Starkie directs. “Created as part of a collaboration between Bokeh Yeah! and Comma Press, based on a poem by Gaia Holmes.”

Exposure by Gaia Holmes

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Rob Lycett made this beautiful film for a poem by the young British poet Gaia Holmes, whose work has attracted a number of filmmakers and animators in recent years. This is one of six films featured in the latest Third Form column on videopoetry at Connotation Press, a review of The Body Electric film festival. Erica Goss writes:

With an eerie precision, the mash-up of flickering images captures the awkwardness of strangers fingering other strangers’ used things. This video poem shows how public access film footage, reimagined and reassembled, can create a compelling story.

Occasional China by Gaia Holmes

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Jessica Symons writes:

This a film of a poem, Occasional China first published in ‘Lifting the piano with one hand’ by Gaia Holmes (Comma Press, 2013)

I am a member of Bokeh Yeah, a filmmakers club in Manchester. We got together with Comma Press, publishers of poetry, and chose Gaia’s poem about a recent bereavement.

One autumn day we gathered in a local cemetery to film Pete Ramsay walking among the graves trying to come to terms with the death of his mother. It is a poignant poem which reminds us of the fragility of life, as well as the fear of the loss that death brings.

Archaeology by Gaia Holmes

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Another fine Comma Film video of a poem by Gaia Holmes, this time by Lisa Risbec, with narration by Jo Bryan. There’s a kind of Russian doll effect at work here: a film within a film, and a book within that, and animation enclosed by live action, and letters in envelopes. Archeaology indeed.

Claustrophobia by Gaia Holmes

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Another Gaia Holmes video poem from Comma Film, this one by Charlotte Caetano, with narration by the poet.

Burger Man by Gaia Holmes

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Poem by Gaia Holmes

Film by Sharon Keighley, with narration by Lela Keighley

Thanks to Michelle at Peony Moon for bringing the work of this fine English poet to my attention.