~ October 2010 ~

Sveta by Sergey Timofeyev

On 29 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation
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Diana Palijchuk is the animator, and Arthur Punte did the montage. I found a Facebook page for the author, and he is indeed Latvian — the first to be included on Moving Poems — though, I presume, an ethnic Russian (his poems are in Russian).

Stephen Fry Kinetic Topography: on language and pedantry

On 28 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation

Couldn’t agree more! Animation by Matthew Rogers. Hat-tip: Open Culture.

The Black Hole by Zachary Schomburg

On 28 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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Another “poem film” by Zachary Schomburg in support of his collection Scary, No Scary.

Wanting Sumptuous Heavens by Robert Bly

On 27 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation
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Another MotionPoems production, designed and animated by Angella Kassube with a reading by the poet.

Parts of Speech by Holly Karapetkova

On 26 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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A really fine author-made videopoem (hat-tip: 32 Poems Magazine). Karapetkova doesn’t appear to have a website, but there’s a brief bio at Gryphon House.

untitled poem by Ryan MacDonald

On 25 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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One of a couple pieces by Ryan MacDonald at The Continental Review. He blogs at Brief Epigrams.

Window Interplay by Francisco José Blanco

On 22 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Concrete and visual poetry
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I don’t entirely understand Josephine Gustavsson’s explanation for the method here, but it sounds highly imaginative:

Every day, trains scrape off iron filings from the rails of the tube network. These filings are regularly removed by staff, since they can otherwise interfere with the signaling system. The procedure is carried out using a machine that contains a magnetic force.

The visualisation of the poem ‘Window Interplay’ is made for the moving image screens of the London Underground, to inspire Monday morning commuters. It is made through a series of explorations, making use of iron powder and magnetic fields.


Francisco José Blanco is a Venezuelan artist resident in Sweden.

Every Day You Play (Juegas Todos los Días) by Pablo Neruda

On 21 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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This is poem XIV from Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Canción Desesperada (1924), envideoed by Will Jardine.

America by Walt Whitman

On 20 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Videopoems
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http://www.vimeo.com/15575046

Alexander Pulido calls this film American Disillusion:

The now-famous (thank you Levi’s) wax cylinder recording of Walt Whitman reading the first verse of his famous poem ‘America’, juxtaposed against imagery of America in reality.

Philip Binder is credited with the cinematography. (For the Levi’s ad using the same wax recording, see here.)

Souffle (Breathe) by Emma Passmore

On 19 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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This is the French version of the film that just won the Public Jury Prize for Best Film at the 2010 Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. Emma Passmore is a British writer, director, and poet, and Breathe was one of 26 films screened this year, out of more than 900 submitted.

Evidently restrictions imposed by some of the festivals it’s been entered in will prevent Breathe from being shared online for another year, but here’s what Emma wrote on Vimeo for the French version:

Using super 8mm footage I originally shot on the London Underground 13 years ago, which captured commuters unawares as they made their way to and from work. The new voice over is a poem which describes the effect of modern life – sucking up time and energy, when all one wishes for is time to breathe; time to live. I aimed to create an evocative piece concerned with longing, hope, history and soul.

The other awards handed out in Berlin yesterday are listed on the website.

The Boys by Francesca Eva Ashcroft

On 18 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation
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“A blend of rotoscope animation, stop-motion animation, and live action video … Directed and animated by Tom McPhee. Written and spoken by Francesca Eva Ashcroft.” This was the first-place winner of the 2010 Poetry in Film competition.

Your Super Bookstore Recommends by Dean Young

On 15 October, 2010 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation, Performance Poetry
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Another “teleportal reading“:

When Dean Young came to the East Austin warehouse where we film our videos, the sky was threatening. By the time he got started, a biblical downpour was underway. You can hear the rain on the tin roof as he reads. Of course, as these things tend to go, it cleared up the second the shoot was finished. Still, we like the way the atmospheric sound plays off of Scott Gelber’s animation, which alters live footage of Dean reading in front of a green screen and layers it with gorgeous hand-painted imagery. Dean’s most recent book, a work of prose on poetry titled The Art of Recklessness, is available from Graywolf Press.

This is one case where a literal interpretation of the poem really works!