~ Author-made videopoems ~
Satori en veille (Standby satori) by Jean Coulombe: three selections
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These are numbers 3, 7 and 15 from a 20-part series of videopoems made for an exhibition last year in Quebec City by Jean Coulombe and Gilbert Sévigny, AKA Éditions VA. The haiku-like texts are by Coulombe, they collaborated on the videos, and the sounds are credited to Marie-Louise. The exhibition itself consisted of “20 tableaux ayant pour thématique la basse-ville de Québec. Chaque tableau était jumelé à un vidéo poème accessible sur internet, par un code QR” (20 pictures about downtown Quebec City. Each picture was twinned to a vidéo-poem linked on the web with a QR code). The exhibition catalogue is online in PDF form.
Many of the texts are coffee-themed, and I gather the exhibition was in a coffee shop. Satori in Zen means awakening, so it makes sense to refer to the effect of caffeine as a sort of satori on stand-by. There’s a preface in the catalogue called “Un petit moment” (A small moment) which I ran through Google Translate (I don’t know much French):
Each passing day gives us a chance to appreciate small moments. Stopping for coffee is one of them.
This special moment allows reflection and even in some cases a form of meditation.
What remains afterward?
Of course, in our minds a lot of things are floating around: daydreams, inner dialogues or observations. But there is also the physical and ephemeral presence of this little “ring” left by the cup of coffee on the table. One does not notice it, and yet one is witness to the discreet happiness of this tiny moment.
I love everything about this exhibition and these brief videopoems. Watch all 20 on the Éditions Victor & Anita Vimeo page, or click through to the YouTube versions from the exhibition catalogue.
Ambulance ballet by Janet Lees
Isle of Man-based poet and artist Janet Lees has long been an important figure in the international poetry film scene, often collaborating with Terry Rooney, but recently she’s been experiencing a creative surge, she told me, and one only needs to visit her Vimeo page to see the evidence: a number of new, generally very short films that showcase her range of interests and stylistic approaches. One constant in her work is the preference for text-on-screen. She also often deploys just a single shot, which works because—as I’ve come to learn by following her on Instagram—she has a terrific eye. Her one-line description on IG: “everything is poetry”.
Household Tips for a New Era by Joanna Fuhrman
This brilliant author-made videopoem seemed like a good one with which to start a new season of regular posts at Moving Poems. Joanna Fuhrman is the author of five books of poetry, including Pageant (2009), winner of the Kinereth Gensler Prize from Alice James Books; and The Year of Yellow Butterflies (Hanging Loose Press, 2015). Her page at the Poetry Foundation website notes that
Her poetry is humorous and surreal, mining references from pop and high culture. Writing about Fuhrman’s work for BOMBLOG, Susie DeFord observed that Fuhrman “takes the best of the surrealist and narrative poetry, weaving social and personal stories with extreme wit, imagination.”
These qualities are certainly on display here and in the other nine videopoems which she’s recently uploaded to Vimeo. “Witty” was the first word that came to my mind when I started browsing through her work. And it’s always great to see a widely published poet with serious video-making chops.
The worst thing by far by Janet Lees
Janet Lees‘ latest poetry film: “Written & filmed by Janet Lees. Music – ‘Scriptures’ by Post War Stories. Edited by Glenn Whorrall.”
The music plays an unusually prominent role, but I found the interplay between the lyrics and Janet’s text on the screen intriguing. And because the music was so much a feature, the slow-motion single shot felt almost like an ironic commentary on the fast cuts and frenetic camerawork that characterize so many music videos.
Regina by Lina Ramona Vitkauskas
Lithuanian-American-Canadian poet Lina Ramona Vitkauskas has been directing a series of short but powerful cinepoems for her collection White Stockings with the help of visual artist Tess Cortés (editing, arrangement and score). Watch the others on Vimeo. They deserve many more views than they have received so far.
American Bebop by R.W. Perkins
This is one of a series of three new “micro film-poems” by R.W. Perkins—his first poetry films in five years. Watch all three at the Atticus Review, which includes this artist statement:
Much of life comes down to the simple things, small in nature but complicated in terms of the inner workings of the mind. Most of my work centers around the effortless red-letter moments of life, where the heart seems to linger. I create poetic snapshots of the past facing the present in a subtle attempt to draw attention to where we are culturally at this moment in our history. My poetry and films harken back to my Texas roots and friends and family in rural Colorado, bringing a touch of surrealism to my small town recollections, highlighting the occasions that seem to bind us emotionally and culturally.
Perkins is also the organizer and curator of the Juteback Poetry Film Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado, which by the way is still open for submissions through August 19.
White Flowers by Brendan Bonsack
A new videopoem from Australian poet Brendan Bonsack, who calls it “a short and snappy musing on love, death and white flowers.”
The Hungriest Animal Alive by Patricia Killelea
https://vimeo.com/278858143
A new videopoem from Patricia Killelea, who says about her creative process:
First comes the language. That is the foundation. Then the video poem builds upon that language, goes to war with that language, prompts that language to shed its skin and become something new, albeit still grounded in voice, breath, and the body.
say your prairies by Martha McCollough
Martha McCollough’s latest videopoem is a bit of a departure from her previous work, reinforcing her reputation as one of the most versatile practitioners of the medium. Whether or not she intended it as a statement on the freshly controversial Laura Ingalls Wilder—the last line would seem to suggest that she did—it’s a great meditation on language and the construction (or destruction) of place.
Happy Independence Day to all my American readers.
The Junicho Video-Renku Book by Eve Luckring
In the course of ordering the new book The Tender Between by noted modern haiku poet Eve Luckring, I looked up her website and discovered to my pleasure that she’s also a multimedia artist who has experimented with videopoetry to great effect. So I’m featuring this 12-part series as my sole post to the main site this week, in the hopes that vistors will find the time to watch it. For those with limited time, however, Luckring has also uploaded an excerpt:
The Vimeo description reads:
The Junicho Video-Renku Book is a series of 12 “twelve-tone” video-poems (1:45-3 minutes each) based on a form of 17th century Japanese poetry called renku.
The experience of watching a video-renku is phantasmagoric. From a centipede trapped in a sink to a man singing karaoke to his pet love-birds, The Junicho Video-Renku Book creates a richly layered collage of moving image, sound, and text that journeys through the everyday. Similar to an exquisite corpse, renku is composed as a counter-narrative according to a complex set of rules based on the structural devices of “link and shift”. In addition to many other parameters, the verses of a renku must travel through all four seasons, comment on love, and address both the moon and blossom.
Luckring’s website adds:
The Junicho Video-Renku Book premiered at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and has since been presented at &NOW 2015: Blast Radius, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, The Wroclaw Media Art Biennale, 2015, Poland and Whitespace, 2017, Atlanta, GA.
Bones by Natalie Raymond
https://vimeo.com/222714700
This powerful, incantatory filmpoem stars the author-director, Natalie Raymond, and was shot at the Salton Sea in southern California. The Vimeo description:
An experimental narrative at the intersection of poetry & filmmaking, BONES explores the journey through a selfhood decimated by trauma. Based on poems from the book length manuscript missoula,, which was recently named a semi-finalist for Tarpaulin Sky’s 2017 book prize, BONES is about a daughter’s struggle to come to terms with her separate identity. more info: natalieraymond.com/bones
Directed by: Natalie Raymond
Director of photography: FuJui Freddy Tang
Wardrobe: Sanora Park
Audio & Text: Natalie Raymond
Isto / This by Mariana Collares
Brazilian writer and interdisciplinary performer Mariana Collares says in the Vimeo description:
In October 2013 I made a call to some women at facebook. I had written a poem about the objectification of women and intended to illustrate it through a video, with the participation of other women who had the same thought.
Hence arose the project that i finally conclude with the help and always accurate direction of Marcello Sahea.
I thank the women who dared to participate in the project by sending pictures of their personal files. I also thank those who, even from afar, share this our desire to contribute to the onset of effective awareness on this subject, still so controversial, and now finds its climax through various events worldwide.
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