~ Video Library ~

Two Tanka by Ono no Komachi

A video by Portuguese artist Bruno Gaspar illustrating a tanka by Ono no Komachi. Here’s an English version:

It’s too cold to sleep
in this lodging on the way
to Iwanoue.
Oh monk, if it’s all the same to you,
could I borrow your robes?

And here’s a short film by Bryan Lacey. The interplay between the classical Japanese poem and modern folk/country song certainly creates an interesting mood, and one worlds away from the original court milieu.

Multiple English versions of the tanka in this video — Ono no Komachi’s most famous poem — are collected here.

Robots are Blue

Not a video poem, but a short film about robots and poetry by Bill Sebastian. Enjoy.

Stealing Sugar from the Castle by Robert Bly

Ithaca by C. P. Cavafy

Poem by C. P. Cavafy (Kavafis)

From the 1996 film Kavafis, directed by Yannis Smaragdis

An English translation of the poem read by Sean Connery, and illustrated by cliched images in a video by babylonianman

Trick Photography by Aaron Fagan

Poem by Aaron Fagan

Film by K. Erik Ino

Alphabet by Natalie d’Arbeloff

Video by British artist Natalie d’Arbeloff. I think it’s interesting how the poem here is intrinsic to the film itself; the text would be difficult to extract and fairly meaningless as a static object without the interplay with the images.

Arte Poética by Vicente Huidobro

Poem by Vicente Huidobro

Music by Iván Lizama, performed by Ensamble Transiente – Música Experimental Latinoamericana (see YouTube for personnel)

Arte poética

Que el verso sea como una llave
Que abra mil puertas.
Una hoja cae; algo pasa volando;
Cuanto miren los ojos creado sea,
Y el alma del oyente quede temblando.

Inventa mundos nuevos y cuida tu palabra;
El adjetivo, cuando no da vida, mata.

Estamos en el ciclo de los nervios.
El músculo cuelga,
Como recuerdo, en los museos;
Mas no por eso tenemos menos fuerza:
El vigor verdadero
Reside en la cabeza.

Por qué cantáis la rosa, ¡oh Poetas!
Hacedla florecer en el poema;

Sólo para nosotros
Viven todas las cosas bajo el Sol.

El Poeta es un pequeño Dios.

Let poetry become a key
That opens a thousand doors.
A leaf falls; something flies past;
Let everything the eyes see be created,
And the listener’s soul keep trembling.

Invent new worlds and guard your word;
Unless it gives new life, the adjective kills.

We dwell in a circle of nerves.
Muscle hangs,
Like a memory, in museums,
But that doesn’t mean we have less strength.
True vigor
Comes from the head.

Poets! Why eulogize the rose?
Through the poem you can make it bloom.

Everything under the sun
Lives only for us.

The Poet is a little God.

My attempt at a translation. The last line became the slogan of the literary movement Huidobro founded, Creacionismo (“Creationism”).

The Soup by Charles Simic

Poem by Charles Simic

Musical composition by Alden Jenks

Performed by the San Francisco Conservatory New Music Ensemble, conducted by Nicole Paiement, with mezzo-soprano Raeeka Shehabi Yaghmai

A brief peek into Yaghmai’s rehearsal with Jenks for the premiere performance of The Soup may be seen in this documentary about her from Bebin TV, starting at the 4:30 minute mark.

Tiara by Mark Doty

Poem by Mark Doty

From Taylor Mali’s Page Meets Stage reading series at the Bowery Poetry club in NYC.

Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump by David Bottoms

Poem by David Bottoms, video by Chris Lee.

Thanks to Laura Sorrells for the find.

Cleverly Framed by Linh Dinh

Poem and video by Linh Dinh

Red Rose 1 & 2 by A.H. Afrasiabi

Poems by A.H. Afrasiabi, translated by Niloufar Talebi

Video from The Translation Project — a scene from Icarus/Rise, “a multimedia theatrical piece based on new Iranian poetry, created, translated and narrated by Niloufar Talebi, in collaboration with choreographer and video artist Alex Ketley and composer Bobak Salehi” (text from YouTube).

The Translation Project’s page goes on to say:

Based on the poetry in BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World, ICARUS/RISE is inspired by the Iranian spoken word tradition of Naghali, which is practiced in the streets, cafes, public rituals, or ‘art music’ stage. By giving this spoken word tradition new content (new poetry in BELONGING) — rather than its usual content of classical Persian poetry and myths — and fusing it with western theatrical elements, ICARUS/RISE gives voice to hybrid-Iranians, reflecting their experience in contemporary society.