~ Video Library ~

Ay, Ay, Ay de la Grifa Negra by Julia de Burgos

On 16 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - interviews, Performance Poetry
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YADagH8ipY

Poem by Julia de Burgos, translated by Jack Agüeros

I’ve been looking for videos of poems by the great 20th-century Puerto Rican poet and feminist Julia de Burgos in honor of the confinrmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, so I was happy to run across this installment from the generally wonderful Favorite Poem Project, featuring bilingual public school teacher Glaisma Perez-Silva.

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Dark Cities by Stacie M. Kiner, Jan McLaughlin and Bruce Weber

On 15 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
Poet: , , | Nationality: | Filmmaker: ,

A 16mm, ten-minute-long film “based on a poem by Stacie M. Kiner, Jan McLaughlin and Bruce Weber,” directed by Edward J. Reasor and produced/written by Jan McLaughlin. For the rest of the credits, see here.

2 poemas para baños (two poems for bathrooms) by Julián Herbert

On 14 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Concrete and visual poetry
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p-QkerEWb4

Video documentation of a typographic installation in public restrooms by the Mexican poet Julián Herbert. The music is “Mind map”, by Jar G. This project forms part of the activities of a collective for visual and kinetic poetry known as El Taller de la Caballeriza.

The first poem says, “To translate is to {invent the light/arrange the voice} on the other side of the mirror.”

My Mind is Peopled with a Great Crowd by Barry Pomeroy

On 13 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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Poem and video by Barry Pomeroy, from the YouTube-based literary magazine Shape of a Box. The video isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good, I think, and I want to showcase as many author-made videos here as possible. Aaron Bissell is credited with an editing role. Visit the YouTube page for the text of the poem and a short bio of the author, though a more entertaining biography may be found here:

Barry Pomeroy received his PhD. from University of Manitoba in 2000, although it would be a pity if that were his sum total. He is an itinerant English professor, boat designer and builder, traveller, carver, sometimes mechanic, woodworker, and web designer. As a writer he is responsible for Multiple Personality Disorder, a long poem in dialogue; at present he is thrashing through another novel tentatively entitled Meeting Ray, and a collection of stories loosely based on the Christian bible called A Bloody History of the Fertile Crescent.

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Who Says Words with My Mouth by Jalal ad-Din Rumi

On 10 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Videopoems
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Coleman Barks reads his version of the Rumi poem. I found the combination with old streetcar footage strangely effective. (The music is a little irritating, though.) As usual with the YouTube video poems from Four Seasons Productions, no credits are given for filmmaker(s). Another of their videos features a much less interesting, New Agey interpretation of a Barks/Rumi poem, “Only Breath.”


Front Towards Enemy by Eric Gamalinda

On 9 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Concrete and visual poetry
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Avant-garde videopoem by Eric Gamalinda, “constructed out of images shot randomly around new york city.”

Mommie’s Coming Back by Jan McLaughlin

On 8 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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Poem and video by Jan McLaughlin, who blogs at Faux Press. This was originally shot in 35mm, black and white, in 1994 — see McLaughlin’s filmography for the complete details.

It’s pretty impressive that a professional filmmaker can also write poems this good.

Road to Derry by Seamus Heaney

On 7 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Poem by Seamus Heaney

Video by Raw Nerve Productions, “Produced for an interactive tourist guide for Derry City Council”

Video Kid by Chris Woods

On 6 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://youtu.be/3yv9dmdUDSE

A video poem on the perils of video! The poem and narration are by Chris Woods; the film is by Charlotte Caetano. Yet another fine production from Comma Film. (This appears to be a revised version; the original video is here.)

Elogio de la gordura (Elegy to Obesity) by Rigoberto Paredes

On 3 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Performance Poetry
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Honduran poet Rigoberto Paredes reads at the 15th International Poetry Festival at Medellin. Here’s the text of the poem, together with a translation.

Elogio de la gordura

Loada sea la gordura, su grasa
llena de gracia, la curva
tensa y relumbrante de sus contornos.
Dichosos sean los seres de ancho follaje,
donde todo el que quiera
halle puesto seguro para pasar la noche.
Gocen de buena fama
esos seres flamantes, exagerados,
vivos retratos de la abundancia.
Ábranles campo por donde vayan;
no los hagan perder
el tiempo, el peso, la vida.
Convídenlos a la mesa, a la cama
(sin mayores recatos ni privaciones)
y celebren en público, a sus anchas,
los deliciosos fastos de la gordura.

 Elegy to Obesity

Blessed be obesity, its grease
full of grace, the perfect
and resplendent curves of its contours.
Happy are they of ample arbor
where all who desire it
may find a sure port to pass the night.
They enjoy a good reputation,
these radiant, excessive beings,
the very images of abundance.
They open new frontiers wherever they go;
they don’t let anything go to waste,
neither time, nor dough, nor living.
Invite them to table, to bed
(neither with great reserve nor privation)
and living large, publically celebrate
this delicious extravagance, obesity.

En blanco (In white) by Gabriel Vallecillo

On 2 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Concrete and visual poetry
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Poem and film by Gabriel Vallecillo, a young Honduran poet and filmmaker “currently exploring VJing poetry and applying poetry to Live Cinema performances,” according to his Vimeo profile. About the video, he says on its YouTube page: “Explora la ausencia del ser humano en este mundo hiperreal blanqueado” (It explores the absence of the human being in this hyper-real, bleached-out world).

sonriendo en blanco
sangrando en blanco
memorizando en blanco
gritando en blanco
amando		 smiling in white
bleeding in white
memorizing in white
screaming in white
loving
tocando en blanco
tecleando en blanco
rezando
creyendo
dios!!
desconectando
apagando
en blanco		 touching in white
fingering in white
praying
believing
god!!
disconnecting
switching off
in white

Clementina Suarez

On 1 July, 2009 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Documentary
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https://vimeo.com/73177002

A brief documentary on the life of Honduran poet Clementina Suarez, focusing on her relationships with painters and painting (more than a hundred artists painted her portrait). This is mostly in Spanish, but includes a few quotes in English from Janet Gold, Suarez’ North American biographer, and is worth watching for the great clips and images alone. Gold says, “If you study Clementina’s life carefully, you inevitably study the history of art in Central America in the whole 20th century.”

The filmmaker, Paula Heredia, is “a Salvadoran film director and editor based in New York” according to the bio on her blip.tv page.