~ April 2011 ~

The Ballad Form by Kate Greenstreet

On 29 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Another great addition to the “author-made video poems” category, originally published in the online journal Dewclaw (along with the text). Kate Greenstreet‘s most recent book of poems, The Last 4 Things from Ahsahta Press, included a DVD with a half-hour of videopoetry.

*

Moving Poems is going on hiatus until the third week of May while its proprietor is off traveling. Why not take the opportunity to catch up and view all the videos in the archive?

Ostrich Consulation in the Culture of Snowmen by Thylias Moss

On 28 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBBHVwyzmdc

If I haven’t shared more videos by the prolific and innovative Thylias Moss, A.K.A. forkergirl, it’s mostly because they were uploaded at a time when YouTube didn’t support very high-resolution films, and you kind of need that to make out the text in her videos. This more recent upload has none of those problems. There’s a lengthy gloss on the video at YouTube; I’ll just quote the opening paragraphs:

A Limited Fork Theory video poam (product of an acts of making) that investigates simultaneity through video convergence of multiple tines of information that exist in multiple forms: printed text, video, sound. The video poam reveals the moment of collision of the multiple tines, explores some of the warping and upheavals of colliding as a form of convergence.

Poam instead of poem, by the way, so as to not limit form with prescriptions of inclusion and exclusion long associated with poetry. Learn more about Limited Fork Theory at the Institute for 4orkological Studies (http://www.4orkology.com).

poetry by Laura Theobald

On 27 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Concrete and visual poetry, Miscellaneous
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

An homage to the Gray Lady of American poetry magazines.

Fable by Howie Good: Moving Poems contest winners (2)

On 26 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 4 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: , ,

1ST PLACE: Swoon

This video captures the nightmarish aura of the poem, but at the same time becomes a separate work of art. It does more than interpret the poem; it reinvents the poem in a new medium. Its propulsive imagery, editing, and soundtrack create an unnerving sense of urgency that the original never attained, but that it greatly profits from in its second life as a video.

 

2ND PLACE: Rachel Laine

This video gives precedence to the poem’s words, but without sacrificing or marginalizing visuals. In fact, the dense, gloomy background visuals and monotone music heighten the tragic sense of the poem, punctuating its doomsday storyline and elegiac atmosphere.

 

3RD PLACE: James Brush

The most visually crisp of the videos submitted, it also uses some of the most unexpected imagery, as when the word “cornfield” is blackened out in the text. And how can you not love that ukele being plinked in the background.

*

Thanks again to all the entrants, congratulations to the winners, and thanks to Howie for acting as judge. (Those are his blurbs for each of the prize winners.) I’m very pleased with how this contest turned out: the goal was to showcase a diversity of approaches to the poetry-film or videopoetry genre, and I think we succeeded in doing that.

I am very open to suggestions for future contests. I don’t want to sponsor contests so often that they become a chore, but I’m not sure I want to wait a whole year before doing another one, either, so maybe in three to six months… I also don’t want to do the exact same thing next time with a different poem, unless perhaps it’s a radically different kind of poem; I’d rather come up with a novel challenge. Feel free to email me or leave comments with your ideas.

Fable by Howie Good: Moving Poems contest winners (1)

On 25 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: , , ,

First Runner-up: Jamie Doughty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGCgRcBZ4xU

 

Second Runner-up: Glenn-emlyn Richards

 

Honorable Mention: Diane Lockward

 

Honorable Mention: Vanessa Plain

 

Thanks to everyone who entered Moving Poems’ first contest! Howie Good and I were extremely impressed by the high quality and variety of the submissions. The judging worked as follows: we decided jointly which videos qualified as finalists and Howie ranked them, soliciting my opinion in a couple of cases, but ultimately making the final decisions. Tomorrow: the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, and thoughts about the next contest.

Interstates and States of Grief by Phil and Angela Rockstroh

On 22 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 3 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Performance Poetry
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: ,

This blew me away. The Rockstrohs have produced a searing videopoem in the style of a political documentary weaving together American militarism, consumerism, capitalism and the interstate highway system without ever getting too preachy for my taste, somehow. Here’s the description at Vimeo:

On US Interstates, we meet the US empire coming towards us. In this evocative video, we meet confederate ghosts and demons of consumer emptiness. We travel down the highway, propelled by engines of extinction, towards empire’s end, where we find ourselves bearing much grief yet are stranded amid ferocious beauty.

I queried Phil about whether he was O.K. with my characterizing the script as a poem, and how their collaboration worked. He wrote: “You can describe the work as a spoken word piece or a long poem if it suits you. That is what I was going for when I wrote the script. And, yes, please, credit Angela and me as the filmmakers. We co-directed and collaborated on the imagery therein, and Angela has the mastery of the technology involved to create the evocative visuals.”

Phil Rockstroh is a poet, lyricist, and essayist, published widely across the progressive internet. Angela Tyler-Rockstroh is a broadcast designer/animator who currently works with HBO. She has worked with major networks such as the Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, and PBS, as well as with Michael Moore on his documentaries Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko.

The Exile’s Track by Marly Youmans

On 21 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Marly reads a poem from The Throne of Psyche, just out from Mercer University Press. Film and music by Paul Digby.

Of Wel (or shall it) by Marleen de Crée

On 20 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Update July 2012: Now with a new translation by Annmarie Sauer.

The second of the two Marleen de Crée poems translated and voiced by Arlekeno Anselmo for a film by Swoon (see yesterday’s post for background on the poet).

Nog Niet / Not Yet by Marleen de Crée

On 19 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: ,

Update, July 2012: Now with a new translation by Annmarie Sauer and credit for voice and concept to Katrijn Clemer.

This is the first of two new videopoems I’ll be sharing for work by a prominent Belgian poet. Marleen de Crée has published 15 poetry collections to date, garnering various prizes (the Maurice Gilliam Award, the August Beernaert Prize of the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature, and the prize of the Flemish Poetry Day). She’s also a visual artist who works in various media, and has had many individual and group exhibitions in Belgium and the Netherlands from 1964 to the present.

This information came via email from Swoon, the filmmaker here in collaboration with Arlekeno Anselmo, whom he credits with “Voice, idea & face” — and, critically, the translation. Those who know Dutch and prefer it without subtitles can watch the original version on Vimeo. As Swoon explained in his email: “For her last book ‘Het is niet de lava’ (It’s not the lava) I made 2 videopoems with a dutchspeaking voice. For a video-festival (FAFF 2011) I made 2 versions with subtitles (I don’t know if our translations do the poem any justice, but the festival prefered subtitles, so…)”

Dupont Circle, 3 A.M. by Raymond Luczak

On 18 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Performance Poetry
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Another sign-language “reading” by poet and filmmaker Raymond Luczak. He notes at YouTube that the music was composed especially for the video by John Stutte. The book is available from Sibling Rivalry Press.

The Forty Elephants (with poetry by Gérard Rudolf)

On 15 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

A new film by Alastair Cook “developed around a narrative commissioned by Alastair, written and read by Gérard Rudolf,” with cinematography by James Norton.

The project takes its lead from the Victorian street gang, of women and their children, who plagued the Elephant and Castle; it draws in the current landscape and it’s deteriorating edge, a farewell to the Heygate and Aylesbury estates; this is a dark trawl through threat and desire, driven by Gérard’s incredible words.

The Forty Elephants premiered on 8th April at Alastair’s fine art photography show at The Howden.

Videopoem contest deadline extended to April 22

On 14 April, 2011 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - calls for work, contests

Howie Good and I have decided to extend the deadline for Moving Poem’s first videopoem contest by one week, to April 22. Here are the guidelines. We’ve gotten some fantastic submissions already, and if we ended the contest tomorrow as originally planned, it would still be a success. But now all of you with poor memories or a tendency to procrastinate — my people! — have one more chance to participate as well.