A lump in the throat » Poets on Film

Poetry is not difficult, just not interesting to you

alumpinthethroat — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:28:48 +0000

On this blog I used to regularly review films about poets, or with a poetry content to them. This stopped, mainly because I canceled my LoveFilm subscription. However, a new season of films at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, in conjunction with the Scottish Poetry Library called Poetry in Motion has been keeping me feeling satisfied this month.

Last night I watched Bright Star. Bright Star follows Fanny Brawne, the finance of John Keats, as she meets him and they fall in love, ending with Keats death at the age of 25. The film is excellently directed by Jane Campion who brings a great amount of elegance and grace to the film. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

However one of the things that struck me was Fannies’ early admission to Keats that she found poetry difficult. The idea that poetry is difficult is always cast as a very modern one. We are told that poetry is difficult because people now receive information in different ways, poetry is difficult because it is not taught well, poetry is difficult because contemporary poets write abstrusly. However I have come to believe none of these. I think they are all an excuse.

On the list of “why (modern) poetry is difficult” no one appears to be able to actually pinpoint the difficulty as coming from within themselves, rather education, poets and modern technology are blamed. I find maths quite difficult, yes, I had maths teachers who scared me stiff, yes, I am dyslexic. At the end of the day though one of the reasons why maths is difficult for me is that I have not applied myself to it. I do not spend my evenings reading mathematics books, I don’t blog about maths, I don’t watch films about maths and I don’t go to maths classes, or spend my time seeking out other people to talk about maths with. If I genuinely wanted to improve my mathematical ability, I could, it would never be at a Nobel Prize level, but it could be much better than it is.

Therefore I posit that when people say poetry is difficult, what they are actually saying, is I’ve never found a poet or poem that has interested me enough to find out more. And that, is not necessarily poetry’s fault. So perhaps it might be worth poetry’s while to leave behind its navel gazing and hand wringing about its popularity, and just get on with writing some excellent work.

The filming of poetry

alumpinthethroat — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:29:39 +0000

Alastair Cook photographer, architect and artist writes about filming poetry. Alastair lives and works in Edinburgh. His professional work can be found at http://alastaircook.com. Alastair’s ongoing interpretive and responsive work with poets can be watched at http://filmpoem.com

The combination of film and poetry is an attractive one. For the poet, perhaps a hope that the filmmaker will bring something to the poem: a new audience, a visual attraction, the laying of way markers; for the filmmaker, a fixed parameter to respond to, the power of a text sparking the imagination with visual connections and metaphor.

Poetry has been seen as a bountiful source for the creative process of the lyrical side of experimental film practice since filmmakers and critics began theorising the concepts of film. Many filmmakers view film as an independent art, often persuading that film can only be an art form if it struggles to work within its own language. The combination of image and text forms what writer William Wees has called Poetry-film. In his essay, The Poetry Film, published in 1984, he notes that “…a number of avant-garde film and video makers have created a synthesis of poetry and film that generates associations, connotations and metaphors neither the verbal nor the visual text would produce on its own.”

The initial step taken by the poet is the very essence of collaboration: the underlying trust placed in the filmmaker with one’s work. This handover of the text is a moment of trepidation, a transfer of trust. However, it is also a point of invigoration, described by Morgan Downie: “I love the notion of collaboration and especially the way technology frees us up to do these things. It’s great to see someone else taking something you’ve done and running with it…. there’s a sense of engagement and commitment.”

In an interview with the Scottish Poetry Library this spring, poet and presenter Owen Sheers made a similar point, that the genesis of a poem may be with the poet, but there comes a point where the filmmaker takes control. I took the opportunity to discuss with Owen Sheers the methodology imposed when bringing six poems to the screen in the recent BBC4 series, A Poet’s Guide to Britain. It is clear there is a conflict for the filmmaker when drawing the viewer’s attention to the poem; is the text of the poem placed on the screen or is it merely read? The answer, with unswerving common sense, is that it depends.

The possibilities for the introduction of literal visual images, non-literal images, suggestive images or visual signposts are all vying for attention. The filmmaker’s skill is to interpret what the particular poem is asking for. Owen’s measured opinion was that there is an opportunity for “a surprising image, to place two things up against each other which don’t quite fit.” The essence is that if the words must be on screen then perhaps not the entire text but only a carefully chosen extract, alongside the poem being read in full. Sheers noted that he feels that this is essential in attempting to reach a wider audience.

And so, the poem will be read to you. Listening to a poem is not like reading a poem; there’s a sense of enlivening as a poem is launched into the air. Seamus Heaney, talking of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, noted that when he heard the whole thing read aloud the experience taught him, in the words of the poem, to sit still. This idea, the experience of being read to, allows the reader to be captive, open to the experience. This is the essence of Poetry-film.

So, a Poetry-film is a single entwined entity, a melting, a cleaving together of words, sound and vision. It is an attempt to take a poem and present it through a medium that will create a new artwork, separate from the original poem. The film is a separate work from the text itself and this in turn may be able to open up poetry to people who are not necessarily receptive to the written word. Poetry often tries to deal with the abstract world of thought and feeling, rather than the literal world of things. The Poetry-film is the perfect marriage of the two.

Many thanks to the team at Anon for allowing the publication of this piece, it is an abridged extract from a longer article that will appear in Anon 7, out soon. It’s worth buying.

Performing, and other news

alumpinthethroat — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:42:26 +0000

This Friday, as part of the This Collection showcase I shall be performing at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh, with other This Collection poets. I am really looking forward to performing in one of the most amazing buildings in Edinburgh, and excited to see what many of the film makers have started to produce to accompany mine, and other poems in the series.

Doors open at 6.30pm and poets will start performing at seven. What will be really interesting about this performance is that instead of one stage and a static audience, there will be four different stages with four sets of poets on. This means that the audience as well as wandering from film to film, can also wander from poet to poet, staying for a whole set, or picking up and wandering off as they wish.

This is a very innovative way to perform, placing poets in a “viewing” position, much like a painting in a gallery where the audience is in control, rather than in a “reading” position more like actors on a stage, where the audience is essentially passive. I will be interested to see how this works, and what the reaction is to it.

But when are you on Mairi, I hear you cry. I should, all being well, be on at 8pm on the Right Gallery Station on the First Floor. However I would also urge you to check out the other poets, there are some there who I am looking forward to hearing again, and others I am excited to hear for the first time. I just have to work out how I get around to hearing everyone.

On the other new front I was surprised this morning to find my blog listed in the Top 100 Poetry Blogs at the Accredited Online Colleges Blog I must say that I have never heard of the Accredited Online Colleges before, and I have no idea how they found my blog, but I suppose that is the wonder of the internet. I am looking forward to gradually getting through the list, as well as checking out all the links to online resources you were kind enough to send.

And lastly, I finally succumbed and joined twitter. I can be found @lumpinthethroat, and I am looking for interesting poets, people or anything else to follow, so please keep your suggestions flowing.

The theme for the year: Collaboration

alumpinthethroat — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:47:54 +0000

After having a pretty awful week last week I wasn’t sure if I was really up for a spot of poetry speed-dating. For those of you who may think I am already lining up husband number 2. do not worry, I am most certainly not.

The speed dating was a This Collection event. This Collection is a collaboration between poets and filmmakers. There have been 100 poems chosen for the collection, all on the theme of Edinburgh. The speed-dating event was to set film makers and poets up together to kick-start to collaborative process. I was really pleased to find a film maker who completely understood my poem (The Castle) without me needing to explain. I was then also informed that there are other who also want to work on my poem – which at once was really exciting but also very suprising. I had not expected such a great reaction.

The speed-dating, and also post event pub conversation got me thinking about collaboration. I realised that this year almost every poetry related event I have been involved in had been collaborative. Firstly there was the excellent Hidden Door Festival, in which almost anyone with any sort of creative bent took part – we might have missed out mimes, but as there will be another Hidden Door this year we can right that oversight.

Secondly I am soon to have a poem published in Popshot, which I will blog about more later. Popshot is a magazine not just of poetry, but also illustration. Every illustrator is given one poem to illustrate, and I can’t wait to see the illustration that goes along with mine. Then thirdly I took part in the Song of Solomon project with Poetry at the GRV. The project saw a large group of poets write a poem each in response to a line from the Song of Solomon, and perform them all on the same night.

All three of these projects have had an energy and excitement about them, and I think this springs mainly from the fact that they are collaborative. I feel that creative people work of each other, and together can create quite a momentum and energy, all of which comes through in the resulting work. Having worked on my poetry on my own for what feels like a long time I find working with others very refreshing. I hope that the current trend in collaboration carries on throughout the year.

Poets on Film: Pinero

alumpinthethroat — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:08:45 +0000

Miguel Pinero was a Puerto Rican who moved to the Lower East Side of New York with his family when he was just four. After several stints in jail he became part of a play writing workshop while in Sing Sing prison. The play which resulted from this workshop was called Short Eyes and ended up being staged on Broadway and receiving several Tony awards. Not content with playwriting Pinero also wrote poetry and was a founder member of the Nuyorcian Poets Cafe. The cafe is still open today and champions all types of artists who are existing outside of the mainstream, and held New York’s first ever poetry slam. Pinero’s literary acclaim however did not help him stray from the path he had already set his life on, which was drug addiction and crime. He eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1988.

I had no knowledge of Pinero and the Nuyorcian Poets Cafe before watching this film and I hoped to find out more about both him and the arts movement he was part of. Benjamin Bratt in the lead role is certainly captivating, and he delivers performance poetry in a way that most can almost dream of. However the film is let down by its non-linear narrative.

Since modernism it has been accepted that there is no need to have a linear narrative, and any watching or reading audience has become used to the flash-back and flash-forward. Pinero suffers from so many flash-forward’s and back’s that it is hard not to get motion sickness. In one way it mirrors the chaotic life of Pinero, but in itself becomes so chaotic that it is hard to get a handle on the man or his work. It is the filmatic equivalent of doing a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces.

If you know nothing about Pinero or the Nuyorcian Poets Cafe it may be a good place to start to find out more. If you are interested in performance poetry watching Bratt will certainly be helpfull, however it is a style I have seen copied so many time you will need to bring something new and of yourself to really make it sing.

Do you know anything about Pinero or NPC? I’d love to hear more so get in touch.

Poets on film: Henry Fool

alumpinthethroat — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:18:35 +0000

Henry fool is directed by the legendary Hal Hartly who is know for his deadpan style. In it we see a young, quite and obviously depressed bin man, Simon Grim, through coincidence befriend Henry Fool.

Fool is a drifter who settles in Henry’s basement and proceeds to encourage him to write, claiming to have written his magnum opus. In his own words…

It’s a philosophy. A poetics. A politics, if you will. A literature of protest. A novel of ideas. A pornographic magazine of truly comic book proportions. It is, in the end, whatever the hell I want it to be. And when I’m through with it it’s going to blow a hole this wide straight through the world’s own idea of itself.

Henry encourages Simon to put down his feelings into words. The result of Grim’s outpourings is a poetic masterpiece which has profound effects on all who read it. After several verses are posted on the internet it inspires the sort of fandom usually reserved for sexually non-threatening boy bands . Publishers who previously rejected the verse are now clamoring to publish. Fool meanwhile, for all his magnetic personality begins a period of descent in his life.

The film is a kind of poetic Whilnail and I. Henry is a Withnail character, intoxicated by his own self belief and supposed brilliance, while Grimm is the Marwood figure, quieter, less prone to trouble, and perhaps not more talented (as we never get to hear any of their work we will never know) but definitely more marketable.

Harltey’s characters don’t have the sort of arc that can be found in more mainstream film making. Traditionally our hero’s and heroines should develop and learn, they should end up “better” people. Better meaning whatever is most appealing and least offensive to mainstream society. Hartley’s characters don’t change, it is their circumstances and the world around them that changes – rather like real life?

Henry’s Fool is incredibly layered. It speaks about art, personality, commercialism, the public and private. It is fantastical, yet at the same time routed in reality. It is very funny. So is Henry Fool about poetry – no, but cinematically it’s close.

Poets on film: The Edge of Love

alumpinthethroat — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:17:00 +0000

Although both poetry and film can at times reach pinnacles or artistic excellent they are not always the most interesting combination. How many times have you seen a poem on television only to have it accompanied by a) a sunset/rise, b) waves crashing against a shore, or c) mist? However there does appear to be a growing cannon of films about poets or touching on the subject of poetry.

The first that I decided to investigate was The Edge of Love, which opened the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2008. This poet that this film claims is Dylan Thomas. When approaching the film I did not know that much about Thomas. Under Milk Wood was one of my fathers favorite poems so I had read and watched it several times, and the phrases from it still stay with me. But apart from that, his alcoholism, his nationality and the fact he had written for radio I knew little about him.

The film is mainly about the women in his life. His wife Ciatlan and his first love Vera. The two women deal with their own failings, marriages and emotional battles, childbirth and abortion in a background of the blitz and war torn Britain. In the film, Thomas pretty much just carries on doing what he wants to do, and gets a bit sulky when one of them turns their attention away from him for five minutes.

Although the director has beautifully rendered some of Thomas’ poetry, and the film has disturbingly realistic portrayals of the London blitz, at the end of the day the most poetry comes in the form of Vera’s husband played by the fascinating Cillian Muprhy. In his letters home, in his love for his wife, in the personal destruction he faces from the horror of war. Although an officer, among the poet, night club singer and nymphomaniac he is the nearest the story can come to an everyman character, and as such it is his life, love and beliefs which tells us the most about that time and place.

Unfortunately this film did not satisfy any curiosity about Thomas the writer, how he came to writing, what inspired him, how he progressed. I guess, I shall have to rely on reading a book. His character is portrayed as a weak, selfish and vain man, and we are hown no redemaning features.

Is this a film about poetry – No. Is this a film about Dylan Thomas – No. It is however a film about difficult human relationships, with a touch of war thrown in.