~ Videopoems ~
Videopoetry, filmpoetry, cinepoetry, poetry-film… the label doesn’t matter. What matters is that text and images enter into dialogue, creating a new, poetic whole.
Writing Behaviour by Rosemary Norman
Stuart Pound describes this on Vimeo as
a poem set to images and sounds. The image foreground is made up of the lines, words and letters of the poem, floating and twisting in the light, as the incarcerated writer writes his escape.
Some very interesting kinetic text effects bordering on concrete poetry, especially with the light-hearted musical accompaniment provided by James Cordell and Frances Wright.
I feel a bit abashed at not having discovered Pound’s work until now. His Vimeo profile says,
Stuart Pound lives in London and has worked in film, digital video, sound and the visual arts since the early 1970’s. He hopes to return to painting. Since 1995 he has collaborated with the poet Rosemary Norman. Work has been screened regularly at international film and video festivals.
Rosemary Norman says on her page at poetry pf that she and Pound “began by using spoken poems and have experimented with digitally processed recordings and with putting text on screen.” There’s a website devoted to their collaboration at stuartpound.info with texts, stills and clips.
Jump Into Air by Guinevere Glasfurd
Alastair Cook’s Filmpoem 25 features the text and reading of Guinevere Glasfurd. The description on Vimeo reads:
Jump Into Air is a poem by Guinevere Glasfurd on the subject of the deathly decline of the British fishing industry, commissioned by North Light Arts. Guinevere, as well as being an exceptional author and poet, has written for the Fishing News, the industry paper, and drew both on this and her stay with the fishermen of Dunbar during this Summer. Jump Into Air has sound commissioned from Luca Nasciuti and was filmed by Alastair Cook using Kodak Ektachrome.
Nirvana by Charles Bukowski
A very popular poem — there are three videos for it on Vimeo alone — probably because it captures in simple language an experience most of us have felt, and also because there’s a great recording of Tom Waits reading it (which is the narration used here). It also has that wistful, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” kind of vibe, even though the holidays aren’t mentioned. And for me this poetry film epitomizes the appeal of down-home, local diners. (I worked as a short-order cook in a diner for a few years when I was young.)
The director, Patrick Biesemans, says about himself:
I currently work as head of production for a cool little company in Manhattan, and when the opportunity arises I am a freelance director of commercials, fashion films, and music videos.
The film was supported by a successful Kickstarter campaign and shot on a $4000 budget. The campaign description shows Biesemans’ thinking about the project:
We would love the opportunity to pay tribute to Waits and Bukowski by creating a short film inspired by, and complimentary to, this great poem. This video project would be visual poetry, focusing on the atmospheric qualities that Waits’ presents with his voice, and Bukowski with his words. A story revolving around the quiet moments that spark and inspire great writing. […]
Our approach would be to shoot this live action and on location, with a playful mix of practical effects and miniature elements (mainly using model railroad train elements); A surreal yet welcoming artistic representation of the world. I want the influences of the 1950’s and 60’s to shape the art direction, costuming, and mood of this project.
We have no plans to submit this to film festivals or get praise for completing such a great project. We’re doing this as a “love letter” to travelers, writers, singers, campfire storytellers, and poets.
Four Desires by Jason Heroux
According to the description on YouTube, this is “a book trailer for Jason Heroux’s new poetry collection NATURAL CAPITAL published by Mansfield Press,” though I must say it’s awfully subtle for a trailer — and a very fine videopoem, however one categorizes it. In a blog post introducing the video, Heroux adds that it was made by his brother Darren.
Lastu Adri (I do not know) by Elia Abu Madi
Directed by Egyptian film student and photographer Forat Sami, with acting and narration by Yousef Bakir and sound production by Mohamed Elshazly. For background on the Lebanese-American poet Elia Abu Madi, the Wikipedia has a bare-bones bio.
His poems are very well known among Arabs; journalist Gregory Orfalea wrote that “his poetry is as commonplace and memorized in the Arab world as that of Robert Frost is in ours.”
For two NATO soldiers… by Paul Perry
The complete title of the poem is “For two NATO soldiers who drowned in an attempt to recover supplies from a river in the province of Badghis, Western Afghanistan, November, 2009”; Swoon calls the videopoem Drift. Irish poet Paul Perry’s text contrasts sharply in mood with the video images. As Swoon writes in a blog post:
The main images came not from me but I used footage from the site Beachfront B-Roll. Crisp and clean footage. Idyllic images with water, birds and logs.
Movement and juxtaposition I found with Cullen McHale. This footage of young men, alive, in their prime and having fun with searching kicks in innocent danger forms a perfect contrast with the content of the poem. Yet they tell a story of what was, or could have been.
I only had to add a layer of ‘light’ and some treated photographs to add to the general atmosphere of the video.
Orpheus’ Pony by Lisa Tuyula
Departing from the usual relationship between poetry and animation in which the latter illustrates the former, this animation may be said to exist in dynamic tension or conversation with the text and music. The director, Michael Fragstein of Büro Achter April, told me in an email that his animation came first, and the German-Congolese jazz singer Lisa Tuyula wrote her spoken-word composition in response, following which Marc Fragstein wrote the music that ties it all together.
While I think this was intended more as a music video than a poetry video, the ekphrastic approach is one that poets and animators ought to consider experimenting with.
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in… by e.e. cummings
Director/producer and editor Jacqueline Donahue was assisted by director of photography Nathan Ng and actors Naomi Khanukayev and Sami Lodi. I like the fact that the father in the poem, from whose perspective the film was shot, is never shown, and the relationship between the daughter and a boyfriend adds an interesting dimension to the text (which may be read at the Poetry Foundation website).
For a very different videopoetic interpretation, see Experimental Film: Heart by Coenraad Viviers.
Utan Hringsins (Outside the Circle) by Steinn Steinarr
http://vimeo.com/32051497
Steinn Steinarr (1908-1958) is Iceland’s most famous modern poet, and “Utan Hringsins” is one of his best-known poems. It was recently put to music by the Icelandic singer Friðrik Ómar, who used it as the title song of his fifth album, Outside The Ring, and sang an English translation by Jón Óttar Ragnarsson. I found another translation online in a Yahoo group devoted to the study of Icelandic and Old Norse:
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Utan Hringsins by Steinn Steinarr Ég geng í hring Minn skuggi féll um stund Ég geng í hring |
Outside the Circle translated by Alan Thompson I walk in a circle My shadow fell for a moment I walk in a circle |
The video and sound are by Máni M. Sigfússon. Arnljótur Sigurðsson collaborated on the music.
