A Poets View ~ Series of Perspectives II

by WordWeaver

Being poetic doesn't mean you understand life, it
only means you understand your feelings.
Writing is about passion more than anything else,
not just spelling, vocabulary, and sentence structure.

You must understand about writing feelings down,
feelings which you truly feel.

To convey this, must all your poems be on life's
own experiences? No, you only have to feel them
as if they were real and induce the reader to
believe they were. A true poet is one with the
gift of poetic thought, imagination, and creation,
together with eloquence of expression.

Possessing the qualities and charm of poetry is not
enough. One must entice the reader to react in the
same enthusiastic way the writer feels about the
piece, not just the judge or well versed, but the
layman who sees it at eye level and feels moved.
Poetry can be above the people or it can be the
People.

Repose

Reposed beneath cold pelting rain
as if you were a planted seed to rise.
Damn the weatherman and his cold
relentless gray umbrella skies.
Your parents warned me about the
ill effects that cold pronounced.
Earth to earth, ashes to ashes,
dust to dust, announced.

I keep hearing echoes of sympathy
like they even know what I am going
through.
Someone might upchuck a fist if I hear
one more "God knows best, you know,"
whispered.
I would rather run in silence and
purge myself with whiskey and beer.

How could they know what it is like
to leave you here with all these strangers?
After the rites I sneaked back here
in the profile of nighttime's secret invite.
I alone can see the dangers.
Like a warm blanket I lay across your
grave, sheltering you from the cold and
fright.

© Weavy 6/04


WordWeaver is a poet and a Senior SplashHost at SplashHost Poetry.

A Poets View ~ Series of Perspectives

To me poetry is "self expression." It is a way to express what I am feeling or thinking at the moment. Sometimes those thoughts come out all mixed up. I guess that is why I do not like a lot of the things that I have written.

Most of my poems that I write are for my own healing and to help me get over a certain point in my life where I am having problems dealing with things.

My greatest goal is to write something, though, that touches someone so deeply that they have to stop and look at themselves in a new light.

I write for my own self gratification, not so much for money, I guess. I mean it would be great to get paid to do something I love, but it is not a necessity.

As you may be able to tell from a lot of my poems, I try to speak out for those less fortunate than myself. The underdog is always my greatest champion. If something I write helps someone somewhere to open up their eyes and help someone else out, then it is worth every second I spend at this keyboard.

The Dreamer

I have often been called a dreamer
A man with his head in the clouds
But if not for this world of dreamers
Were is it that we would be now

It was a dreamer who put man in space
And put his footsteps on the moon
A dreamer learned to soar with the eagles
And lighten a once darkened room

So I believe that I will keep on dreaming
Of making this world a better place
With words from my imagination
That time and man will not erase

My words will one day feed the hungry
Will give hope to the poor at last
Show love to all the worlds nations
And make wars a thing of the past

So go ahead and call me a dreamer
Say my words mean nothing at all
One day my dreams will become reality
May god have mercy on us all

© Mydnight 2004


Bob Shannon is a poet and Senior SplashHost at SplashHall Poetry. He Just published some of his poems at www.lulu.com. The book is appropriately titled "My Eclectic Book Of Poetry". You can also view some of his poems at Mydnights Poems.

Let Your Poetic Voice Be Heard

i know we have some great writers here on the net and we at Splash and Rollin Thunder have created a "soap box" for poets to use ..to share their ideals and opinions in regards to poetry..

what you do is send me a short essay/article written in your words how you relate to poetry or how poetry can contribute to life and relationships..

Its called Rollin Thunder and barely 3 weeks on the net ..it has already over a 1000 page views ..additionally its an atom/rss syndicated page ..meaning its delivered and available (like an article in a newspaper) to over a million atom/rss readers ..these readers are not included in the above page view as they can read articles thru programs called news or feed readers that extract fresh daily articles from sites like Rollin Thunder..

what all this means is when get upon the Rollin Thunder soap box your voice is heard across the net (um excuse the pun) like Rollin Thunder~

so send me your voice today for consideration of inclusion..

Send to me at RollinThunder@themountainsplash.com

Thank You for Your Support!

~*~
Love isn't a decision. It's a feeling. Share it unconditionally. Love isn't sacrifice. It's given freely. True love expects nothing in return.

Poems From Home Project Show Support For Troops

Show your support for our troops in Iraq and around the world. Submit a poem to be considered for inclusion, to be sent and distributed to our Freedom Fighters.

Whether you agree with the war or not ..please show your support for our sons, daughters and neighbors. One of America's Freedoms is we as human beings are allowed to believe what we want ..our troops are supporting that freedom ..Lets show them our support and love for them!

Post your poem here today

deadline is July 4th, 2004..

The First Day of Summer

Today is the first day of summer. What does summertime mean? We all know the scientific stuff like it is the equinox, the sun is at its highest point, the planets, etc.

We all know that. But, what it really means is that the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. The squash is coming in by the handful. The bush beans are ready for picking.

The bees are stuffing their sacs from the butterfly bushes, working the ice plant for the pollen hidden in the pink petals, and fighting the Japanese beetles for the nectar of the mimosa blossoms.

The hemerocallis is doing her duty producing her daily lily of pale lemon, bright yellow, orange, or russet.
The mourning doves aren't mourning but delighting in stealing free fallen sunflower seeds.

After today, the days will become shorter so let's not waste a moment of our sweet summertime.

Summer swaggers in
all hot and sweaty.
Slaps a
thunderous hand
saying, "Let the fun begin."

©Wittmann

Flag Day

Did anyone notice that there was not much hoopla this year on Flag Day June 14? There was no mention of it in my area, near Charlotte, NC, and that's not a small hick town. Yesterday my son presented his dad, a veteran of WWII, with a brand new flag to replace ours, which was becoming slightly tattered. Has anyone noticed how some people allow their flags to fly until they are in shreds? What a shame that is. My eleven-year-old grandson was here visiting when we took down the old one. He ceremoniously folded the flag into a triangle so that we could give it a proper disposal. Did you know that each fold has a meaning?

The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life.
The second is symbolic of our belief in eternal life.
The third is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing our ranks who gave a portion of theirs lives for the defense of our country to attain peace throughout the world.
The fourth represents our weaker nature, for as citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace or war for His guidance.
The fifth is a tribute to our country.
The sixth is for where our hearts lie, our pledge of allegiance to our country.
The seventh is a tribute to our armed forces.
The eighth is a salute to anyone who has died in battle.
The ninth is a tribute to womanhood and mothers whose love and devotion mold the characters of men.
The tenth is recognition of the fathers who gave their sons and daughters for the defense of our country.
The eleventh represents the seal of King David and King Solomon glorifying the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The twelfth is an emblem of eternity and glorifies God.
The final fold showing the stars reminds us of our nation's motto, "In God we Trust."
When the flag is completely folded, it is in the shape of a triangle, which represents the tricorn hat worn by the early soldiers that fought for our freedom.

I am in hope that during our July 4th celebrations this year that we remember just what it is that we are celebrating. A lot of people seem to think that it is the anniversary of the invention of fireworks.

America Two

America, our country,
created from imperfect symmetry,
begun from one confirmed public
with one goal catholic.
Continued by a melange impure
mingling and commingling varying culture.
A medley of creeds
which forever proceeds
through a mosaic united
with a future farsighted.
The body politic,
however disjunctive the ethic,
tied our common diversity
in ropes of adversity.
We join our hearts
and interfuse our parts
to construct contentment
till we reach achievement
through arduous work,
which Americans won't shirk,
and with the help from
this unlikely amalgam
we pursue the plan that first began
by this immature mixture of man.

©Wittmann 2004

Birth of a Poetry Community ~ MoonTown Cafe

Have you ever been to an online poetry community aka poetry boards? Many different activities can be found at them - including but not limited too.. Showcasing of members poems, workshoping, journaling and true friendship, some even find romance. Here's one poetry board's founder Jon Neihart and how a famous online poetry community virtually became reality.

Moontown Cafe was the title of a science fiction poem that I wrote in college, I'm sure I was drunk when I wrote it. That was about 1993. Years later in a darkened pub, my buddy Kyle was telling me all about how cool this whole internet thing was. I had tried the internet a few years prior, I found it slow and frustrating. I guess it had come a long way since UNIX.

I threw the idea of having sort of a resource for amateur writers, trying to make that leap to the next level; a place that might offer contests and perhaps a place to share or workshop some of their work. I had no idea that hundreds of places on the web like that already existed. I also had no idea that Kyle was going to take the idea and run with it.

We had an outdated message board that wasn't even Y2K compliant and a nature poetry contest. We went from about 80 posts on our message board in April of 2000 to 800 in a few months. We had almost 1000 entries to our contest. Something was abundantly clear, very few poets actually give a crap about seeing their work in print; a problem I run into with my own various print offshoots, magazines, and anthologies. The message board took off, and we adapted our service to keep up with demands.

We have seen a lot of good poets and mods come and go. It would be unfair to try naming them all for the fear of leaving someone out. I have seen people meet over our site. Jim Amos actually met his wife Laura there; we served as a bridge that brought him from England to Ohio. At one time, we had a half dozen people from a town in Canada using the site, which prompted some to make the pilgrimage there.

I've met some members myself, but one of the biggest trips was having a member on my site that wrote something years back that greatly influenced my own writing. J N Conway had something published in Yankee, a magazine I always aspired to get my poetry into someday (too bad they don't publish poetry anymore). It was a piece about taking down a tree that I had pinned up on my wall for the longest time. I think I over-flattered him and he left, but I still wonder if he was drinking beer when he wrote it. That would be ironic.

We have a good crew and some talented folks. Vickie Knight has been instrumental in keeping the place running over the years, Erin Monahan when she's online. Janie Hubbel is very involved, especially in our print publications. There is Doug Seavey, who has a cool poet girlfriend Laura Harris. There is Nancy Wilcox, Melissa Rees, Jen Bredl, Jen Mirles, Jeninot, Amber Logan, and many many others who have contributed in any way they could without receiving a dime. They claim that they wouldn't do it if they weren't getting something back, funny how an idea can sprout into something much larger than yourself.

Jon Neihart aka Jon von Nottingham ~ MoonTown Cafe

This Gloomy Day

June 15, 2004

I am sure that everyone has heard the lyrics "rainy days and Mondays always get me down." What about "a gloomy day this Tuesday?" That is what it is today. It seems to make a person do things differently than what they would normally do. How about playing a game of dominoes and win? Beat the master of the game. Or, pick up an unfinished project and complete it. Such satisfaction. Create something unique like crochet around a strawberry basket. Why? Why not. Grab the mountain dulcimer, go out on the front porch and just fram away. Who cares who is listening? A gloomy day this Tuesday will not get me down. Perhaps pick up a pencil and pen a poem.

This Gloomy Day

Heavy air wraps his arms
too tightly around my chest.
I sigh and try
to create a bantam of a breeze.
Mimosa blossoms drop with a plop
plump with high humidity.
Hummingbirds flit and feed,
don't seem to mind,
not the bees nor beetles,
bluebirds,
or the butterfly.
Why then should I?

© Witt Wittmann 2004

Chickens, Tats and Poetry

Poetry is like a flower garden.
by Sharyn "Witt" Wittmann

Poetry is like a flower garden. No two are alike. Some are formal and pristine; others are wild with abandon. Take for example the parterres. Be they designed as circular, rectangular, or in a diamond shape, the formal garden is clipped to perfection, and every plant is sited with exact symmetry. The borders are outlined with perhaps germander precisely trimmed to a certain height. The circuitous paths are orderly with not one pebble out of place-each stepping stone specifically placed. Identical boxwoods are strategically positioned as focal points. The pattern of the parterres is extremely particular in its placement of shrubs and a modest display of a few flowers chosen to be exhibited as specimens never in great profusion. In the center is placed a fountain, statue, or topiary-every item is structured and elaborate. These plants are chosen for their variance in hues of greens, their textures, growing habits, and even aroma. The flowers muted and tasteful were used to enhance the pattern. The beauty of the design, and the care that it took to create this masterpiece at once takes in the onlooker filling his soul with pleasure.

The cottage garden, on the other hand, has no formality. Flowers are placed where there is room to put them. No structure binds the gardener's creativity. The borders of the garden are freeform and flow freely. Flowers are chosen for their vibrant colors and not necessarily flowers that complement one another. Volunteers are allowed to sprout wherever they have the sunlight and the desire to grow causing the heights to vary as well as the combinations of color. There is usually an abundance of vegetation seeming to have a will of its own. These types of gardens are fun and give the viewer joy as well causing delight to the spirit and senses.

As in every garden, weeds do creep in destroying its beauty. The gardener must try to pull out these aversions so that they do not sap the energy away from the splendor. So, too, the poet should take great care with the diction that he chooses so that he does not weaken his own garden of words. A gardener would not deliberately foul his land with briars and other disagreeable things. Why then should the poet?

Why do people create these forms of art? It could be simply because they feel like it. It is a way to express their feelings and by expressing their feelings, they feel better. The gardener may derive enjoyment from the pure physical labor that he must endure to construct his treasure-the poet, the mental exercise. Work and exercise is good for us and makes us feel better. The happiness possibly comes from the catharsis of pouring out his sweat through his effort then he can sit back and relish his accomplishment. Perhaps he has the desire to please others and savors what others appreciate about his interpretation. Whatever the reason, parterres, cottage gardens, and poetry have been around for centuries and will surely continue through the future. There is a personal gratification for the one who produces and also for the one who comprehends.

Poetry is like a flower garden no matter what the style or structure may be. Sometimes the words are precise and laid out with a particular pattern, and other times the words are thrown out like seeds in the breeze. Either way, a poem may capture our hearts and touch us deeply. A poem may bring a tear to our eye and conjure reminiscences that we hold dear. At other times a poem can make us titter with glee or even laugh out loud. Poems are our little private plots, meaningfully scratched out, of an inherent need to be in touch and to touch.

~*~

It takes time to tat.
That's tatting with a Southern accent, ya'll.
Chickens are people, too.

Wittmann's profession is teaching, her passion is flower and herb gardening, but her obsession is tatting, a type of shuttle lace. Along with her vocation and avocations, Witt has expanded her interests delving into raising chickens, writing, and now editing others' works. Her latest books are Musing at La Poulaille, which is filled with humorous and sometimes poignant poems about her adventures and misadventures with raising chickens, and TatWitt: What I Learned When I Learned to Tat, which is an inspirational book about life's lessons that she observed while she was learning to tat. The book that she just finished editing is now at the presses, Dead Poets' Society Presents Poetry's Alive, a collection of poetry written by young adults.

Among Wittmann's accomplishments are being the recipient of the James A. Rogers Creative Writing Award, having one of her tatted doilies selected to be a part of the Palmetto Hands Traveling Art Exhibition, and just recently one of her designs was featured twice in The Bulletin, a quarterly magazine of The International Old Lacer, Inc.

Wittmann was nominated for the Maurice English Award, and she was also a nominee for the Pushcart Prize.

Wittmann has dedicated herself to teaching for almost thirty years so she sees it as her philosophy and her duty to teach handwork and tatting whenever she can, and now she has begun educating and helping others to write. She is also the Poetry Director at SplashHall Poetry. You can view some of her Tat and such at Future Heirlooms by Witt

Interview With cin(E)-Poetry Guru George Aguilar

Martina Pfeiler, an Instructor from the American Studies Dpt.,Dortmund University, Germany conducted a seminar on Poetry and Technology for highly gifted and highly motivated students.

The following is from an Email Interview between George Aguilar, creator of Literary Television (LTV), a project of the National Poetry Association (NPA) and is currently working with the International Poetry Museum Project and 29th Annual cin(E)-Poetry Festival in San Fransico and three of those university students.

1) What comes first? The idea for a video clip, the poem, the music, etc. and how do you then proceed?

It varies. Sometimes I'll come across a poem and suddenly have the desire to develop imagery to go along with it. Other times, I might have an image in my mind that needs to be expressed and the words follows. Right now, I'm very much into being inspired by different painting styles. Most recently, I have been intrigued by the ancient Chinese brush style and looked at many paintings in museums (and even while eating in Chinese restaurants!) and learned how many of those paintings were of flowers, mountains, birds, animals and pagodas. The style seemed whimsical to me as well as a wonderful aesthetic challenge to see if I could make a video reminiscent of that style. Then I'll think about how to proceed. Do I draw images in a graphics program or begin creating a 3D scene? In this case, I first created a 3D scene of mountains and a river around a small island with slow moving mists. Then I "repainted" the scene using another program that allowed for me to place various brush style elements on to the 3D scene. This was exciting for me because it was the first time I had taken this approach to making a cinepoem.

It was only after creating the scene using 3D models, animation and video-drawing techniques, that I did research on ancient Chinese poetry and learned about how the Chinese viewed poetry and the subtle yet powerful way they conveyed stories. The result was MIGHTY MOUNTAIN TINY FLOWER a new work currently highlighted on my site.

Mostly, I like to keep myself open to all the muses and try not to get locked in to one particular way of making cinepoems. Places, people, art and poetry is what I look for for inspiration.

2) Are your clips your personal interpretation of poems? Do you want to give your audience new aspects and ways of interpretation and if so, don't you think that the audience might lose space for his/her own interpretation of the poem?

Of course anything anybody creates is a personal interpretation of something whether they say so or not. No artist can be "objective" about a subject matter they are creating on their own. So yes, my works are personal interpretations or a hodge-podge of interpretations involving me and any collaborators. My works are not easy to digest nor have one single thing to say because I want the audience to be drawn from the 'experience' and then apply their own interpretation based on what kinds of thoughts and feelings they are bringing when watching a piece. I certainly can't stand watching a video or film that doesn't allow the imagination to take over. So I very much try to stoke the imagination and thoughts of the viewer in my works.

3) What differences do you see between your video clips and music videos that one can see on MTV every day? Both are fusions of lyric texts, tunes and images shown on screen.

Yes, there are no structural differences between MTV and my work in Cin(E)-Poetry.

Certainly, MTV has had a great influence on me growing up and it did show me that very different media elements can be combined to create something interesting and exciting. Where MTV and Cin(E)-Poetry differs is on the emphasis. MTV emphasizes and glorifies music, particularly pop, rock, rap etc. Cin(E)-Poetry emphasizes and glories poetry and the spoken and written word. There probably have been great lyric-poems presented on MTV but they're drowned out amid the music and the visuals.

In really good cinepoems, there clearly is a distinction between the meaning and delivery of the poem. What's paramount are the visuals and music used to support that. I only use music if it helps set a particular mood or rhythm.

I should add that music is not always used in my work. For reference, see BLACKBIRDS, AN AGELESS CERTAINTY, MEANING in the Cin(E)-Poetry Archive. I wonder if any of these would actually appear on MTV.

4) Would you like the author of the poem to be involved in your project if possible? (like in "An Ageless Certainty"/ "The Haven" by Guy Johnson) And if he/she does not (or cannot) collaborate with you, are you occasionally afraid of misinterpreting his/her poem (or certain aspects of it)? In how far is the original author of the poem still the author?

First, here is a quick literary breakdown of the 21 Cin(E)-Poems I've made thus far:

11 Films made with: Collaborating Poets
7 Films made with: An Original poem by me
3 Films made with: Dead Poets

Apparently I enjoy collaborating with poets on these films! What a surprise to me! Yes, I would rather collaborate with a poet in the creation of these films because they bring so much to the visual-making process. Because I used to run the National Poetry Association, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by poets and poetry. My life's path has always seem to take me to a poet and writer who is curious about the idea of mixing cinema with words. Their artistic instincts (and desire to be heard) makes for a wonderful collaboration for me because they are so willing to have another person immersed in the ideas in their poetry. For me, poetry writing continues to be a struggle and having the collaborating poets around allows me to concentrate on experimenting with visual constructs that will add another layer of meaning, ultimately changing the poem (never improving it).

I'll share with you a personal story regarding collaboration.

The Cin(E)-Poem 'BLACKBIRDS' was a collaboration with poet and teacher David Bengtson of Minnesota. We met for the first time while I was travelling in the area. I decided, as a present from me to him, to make a cinepoem based on one of his poems. I poured through several chapbooks and came upon the prose poem Blackbirds and thought that it would make for an interesting experiment. Here is the actual poem:




BLACKBIRDS

The other day a farmer told me,

"They'll wipe out a whole field

if you let them."

The field is ripe with sunflowers.

The sky,

filled with

blackbirds.

They swarm from

one field to

another, pulled

by the same thread.

Finally,

they land.

A blackbird on the bent stem

of each burned sunflower

bends to peck at the seeds.

The field now darker

than before.

Down by the lake,

three shots.

In three waves the birds fly off.

The flowers slowly nod

as the birds fill

nearby trees.

There is such

noise in those trees.

I crawl through the fence into

the field they have abandoned.

As I walk between the rows,

I can't resist touching

the fine white hair that

grows on each neck.

I can't see the birds.

Their bodies are hidde

among the bare branches

that surround this field.

But I hear them waiting

for me to leave.

At this final service

all heads are bowed.

The relatives have gathered.

They haven't spoken for years.

They argue about who will

get the large brooch.

There is such

noise in those trees.

- David Bengtson, copyright 2001




Visually, the piece intrigued me and as we talked about, learned about the time and place and the reasons he wrote this poem. All of that helped me come up with the cinematic approach to the piece. At the same time, I had it in my head that I wanted to try to do a piece with poetry and only sound effects and felt it could work here. While editing, I found that some of the lines of the poetry were giving me problems. The line 'There is such noise in those trees', just didn't seem to fit along with the other text. I asked David if it would be allright if I could replace that text with an actual sound of noisy birds coming from a tree. He agreed that the point of the line was to convey sound and realized that for me to add screeching bird sounds could work better.

He and I were both very happy with the final results and the piece went on to win a few awards here and there. We both consider BLACKBIRDS the cinepoem to be a collective authorship.

As for working with Dead Poets; this is ALWAYS the hardest for me because, unlike above, I cannot bounce ideas off the dead nor get their okay on changes. The main reason I created Agitated Beauty was to expose Syvlia Plath's actual voice to a wider audience. It was stunning to me to hear her voice on tape and I felt that putting it to film would be a great way for others to experience it to. In this piece, she is actually reading it and I do not make any changes or omissions and I sought to include imagery that would be captivating to people but wouldn't interfere with what she was trying to convey. The film is simply a woman going for a swim at night with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in the background. I wanted the audience to fall easy into the 'spell' of the scene so their ears would pay closer attention to Plath.

In ee cummings 'somewhere I have never travelled', I was actually a little concerned with misinterpreting his poem but then I thought about what "interpretation" actually means. I spoke to a few people who also knew the poem and they really didn't experience this poem in the same way beyond its obvious elements. It seemed that they loved the poem on the page for different reasons either for its radical use of text in a book to how the poem helped them "get through high school". I realized that nobody has (or should) have the same interpretation of a work of art. Who has the same experience when viewing the Mona Lisa for the first time? Who has the exact same relationship to a favorite song? Some of the best works of art have many different layers of meaning and should, at the very least, point the viewer to engage in it in their own personal way. That is mostly what I try to do with my work and I'm always amazed ( and glad) when someone shares some new insights about my work because it brings me something new as well! So now usually I just tell people that 'somewhere I have never travelled' is indeed MY interpretation of the ee cummings poem, nothing less nor more.

5) How do you finance your projects? Do you receive any grants?

I mostly finance my projects with personal funds. I purchased my laptop and camera for a grand total of $3,500 in savings and scammed free editing software from friends. After that, the only out of pocket expenses are miniDV tapes (about $12 per) and VHS or Beta duplication copies of finished works to send to festivals. I've actually stopped sending my works to festivals now so I can eliminate that cost.

In reality, I have everything I need to make high-quality cinepoems and no longer need to wonder if grant money will come in to pay for anything. Time is all I need now to create these works and since I've been able to enhance my skills through the creation of cinepoetry, I've been making good money as a contractor hired to create digital film works for museums and artists around the world. The ability to make your own high-quality film from scratch has never been cheaper or easier and I preach this ethos to all my students and anyone who will listen.

6) Would you define yourself exclusively as a new media poet or have you considered publishing in traditional print formats, such as in books or magazines?

A very good question. I suppose I define myself as a digital artist. Everything I create is manufactured in the digital realm which allows me to easily explore, deconstruct and experiment with different mediums including poetry. I don't really see myself as a poet since I don't like to write and write perhaps two poems a year at most. I really don't know what "new media" is and tend to think that it's just a collision of several old mediums. The Internet being the newest medium that is changing the way we perceive and experience ideas.

Also, I do not endeavor to separate the poetry from my videos or vice versa because, to me, each one would then only exist as a shadow of its former self. My films and videos are published in the form they are in and would be very different if its elements were separated.

Having said all that, I do create art in some very traditional ways. For instance, I create large size digital prints from photos that have been made to look like a watercolor or impressionist painting. I enjoy making digital prints because sometimes you just want to be able to look at something on your wall that looks good and evokes some feeling. Sometimes I just don't want to have to pop in a DVD or turn on my computer to enjoy something I've created. I do write a poem now and then for a publication. This can be excruciatingly painful because I try to write something that I think would never work as a cinepoem!?! Would you believe that!

Where do you see the direct advantages of the new media?

The connection I have with you and your university is a result of the advantages of new media. Somehow, a teacher found my website with my videos and was able to show them to students to help broaden their educational horizons half way across the world. New Media is inexpensive and allows artists from all over the world to make their work available to anyone. For me as an artist and teacher, I get to show and discuss my work with anyone with a computer and that is always the most exciting. This wasn't possible even a few years ago. Since my work has been online, I've been invited to museums and universities around the world to speak about Cin(E)-Poetry and videopoetry.

Also, I have a media rich online portfolio that employers can quickly examine and decide if my style is something they want for a particular job. I get jobs like this quite frequently.

More importantly, as an artist, I can create artwork that can incorporate high-quality sound, music, graphics, video and animation into a fused work that is of equal technical quality to any professional studio. The cost is minimal and I can create whatever I want without having to think too much about how I am going to "pay for it".

7) Do you personally prefer reading poems or do you prefer watching them? Why?

Depends on my mood and which medium I want to examine and study. If I feel like sitting down and being away from the technology, I will read poems or listen to others read their poetry. When I read poetry, I read it with the intention of understanding the poem at my own pace, often times rereading it over and over again. Now that I've worked with poets, heard their voice and understand the importance of "emphasis", I will always feel I'm not reading a new poem the way the poet intended. The poems I enjoy on the page take advantage of punctuation marks and spaces to help the reader read the poem as intended.

If I want to see some new video techniques of videopoets then I will watch them mostly to study and observe. I think if I am watching a movie or video, not expecting any poetry to come from it, and it suddenly appears in the story line for a few minutes, I am thrilled and delighted because I was surprised by its beauty and artfulness. The trouble that I have with many films and videos with poetry in them is it is not easy to "reread" the poem because you are at the whim of the pacing of the film. It comes and goes and you cannot just sit with it and think about for long stretches. This is one of the reasons I like putting my films on the Internet and on the Digital Canvas device. People can browse the cinepoems and review any single piece because they are short. Also, you can still 'read' a poem on a videoscreen. My hope is that in the near future, we will have electronic books that will have the look and feel of books but have moving electronic type and images.

8) How did you get to know about the fairly new concept of video poetry? When did you first use the Internet as a means publishing your poems?

I first became exposed to video poetry when I worked as a volunteer at the National Poetry Association NPA in San Francisco back in 1991. That group started in 1975 as the Poetry Film Workshop showing films made by poets. Since that time, they had amassed a nice archive of poetry films spanning 15 years and I offered to clean up the archive which was a mess of unlabled film cans. Soon after watching these films I became very excited that I was watching something very different and very exciting for me as a filmmaker. Later I became director of the Poetry Film Festival and worked to get entries from around the world to show to the public in SF. During the next 5 years I met many poetry film/video poet makers and watched over 1000 good (and bad) films. I soon learned what it took to make a good videopoem and began to write a few articles defining the genre and tried to put the films and videos on TV.

Around 1994, the NPA got its first computer and we had access to the Internet early because we had someone on the board that worked for a lab that helped created the Internet. Even though I was "browsing" the Internet before there were browsers, I could see there was a potential for getting poetry out to people in a new and inexpensive way. I taught myself how to create a webpage and built the NPA's first page in 1995 which included various poems.

Because it was difficult and expensive to put anything on TV here in the U.S., I soon began to experiment with finding ways to put our collection of videopoems online for people to see. The result was an early media endeavor called NETVIDEO which worked well enough but the only people who could watch videos on the Internet then were people who had impossibly powerful computers and had to still wait hours for a 2 minute clip to be downloaded. In 1996, I renamed the Poetry Film festival to the Cin(E)-Poetry Festival to better reflect the coming changes in the types of mediums that were eventually going to deliver poetry through digital technology.

I waited a few more years until the ease and price of web building and video editing software became cheap enough for me to buy my own domain name, web space, computer and digital video camera. In 2000, I launched my website, which had only a few short videos, and had planned to create and distribute my work via the Internet with the belief that more people, schools and business would gain access to faster dial up speeds.

Thanks for taking your time to answer these questions!

Holger Blumensaat

Beate Dorka

Kay Rensing

For more information about the American Studies Dpt.,Dortmund University, Germany, contact Martina Pfeiler at martina.pfeiler@uni-dortmund.de

All material on this page is copywritten by the authors 2004
reprinted here by permission by George Aguilar.

George Aguilar, creator of Literary Television (LTV), a project of the National Poetry Association (NPA), which presented short, independent film productions called Cin(E)-Poetry also known as poetry films and videopoems to PBS and major art houses and international museums in addition to providing educational tapes to schools across the United States. Currently George lectures and showcases all over the world and is working with the International Poetry Museum Project and 29th Annual cin(E)-Poetry Festival in San Fransico. For more information contact George Aguilar at George Aguilar or The IPM.

Poetry Gurus Get Blogged !

Good Morning! How are you today?

As you could see, I have started a blog called Rollin Thunder ..one of the things I would like to to do with this blog is have guru type guest poets, editors, and publishers ..though this will take time to build up ..you could get on the bandwagon now ..for a lack of a better description (I am only on my 2nd cup of coffee) ..it would be like a short segment of a late night talk show..

With that said, could you write me a short article or interview talking about whatever aspect of poetry you would like...including how you came about starting what you do in poetry.. where you think poetry is headed ..advise for aspiring poets etc..

I'm thinkin appx 2-3000 words, though thats not written in stone ..you can also talk about any books or movies you have on the burner..

Also include a 250-500 bio to be inserted in editorial format..

If you have a blog lets exchange links also?

The blog is at Rollin Thunder and is still in its blooming stages until we get a few interviews/articles under our belts..

Looking forward to receiving your piece...

tyVm!
Rg aka Rollin Thunder

ps ..if you know others that should be spotlighted ..please send them my way...

pss ..in case your unfamiliar with the potential of blogs, consider that Google has recently purchased Blogger.Com (May 2004) ..which Rollin Thunder is hosted through to my server SplashHall Poetry. It would be a good guess that Google sees a bright future here. In addition to search engine spiders loving blogs like dogs love cicadas, the blogging arena has it own network system (which if you reading this, you already know) which equates into high exposure.

You would also be featured at SplashHall Poetry Boards presently getting over 500,000 hits a month and growing..

Poetry Picture Challenge

Do feel creative today? SplashHall Poetry hosts a monthly, well sometimes seasonal, Poetry Picture Challenge. What you do is go to the SplashChallenge page, muse the picture, sometimes erotica and romance, and create a poem or prose describing what you see and feel. Then post your poem or prose at the SplashHall Poetry Boards.

Near the end of each month all the poems entered are included in members voting poll to see which top 2 poems are liked the most. If your poem is chosen your awarded an Awards Banner and your poem is put in the SplashChallenge Hall of Fame.

Its fun and creative. Give it your best muse. And while you're at the SplashHall Poetry Boards say hello to some beautiful people.