by Dana Guthrie Martin
For this installment of O Video!, I asked Dave Bonta if he had featured anything recently at the video-poetry site he curates, Moving Poems, that he felt would be especially good for us to showcase here at Read Write Poem. He mentioned Gamalinda’s piece because it’s an example not only of video poetry but also found poetry.
I watched the video and was taken with it. Dave’s right — it’s a natural complement to both our Video Poetry and Found Poetry groups here at Read Write Poem. I’m very interested in what members of those groups, and the Read Write Poem membership as a whole, think of Gamalinda’s work.
So watch the piece, then strike up a conversation about it in the comments section.
Dana Guthrie Martin is the founder of Read Write Poem. She writes things and stuff. Most of the time, her things and stuff happen to be poetry, or at least they call themselves poetry. She has a robot named Feldman. He’s writing a book of poems.
This is a representative example of this particular style, and true to its approach. The fractured nature of the constant digital splicing, and the minimalist production, does not hold my interest – does not engage me.
I’m sure there are those who are attracted to this type of sparse, raw experience – so in that, it likely reaches its audience.
Hi Dana – Thanks for linking to Moving Poems.
It’s worth noting that video poetry pioneer Tom Konyves posted a piece of his own in response to this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxHQ7jnLwlY
–a similar found poem from graffiti, shot in Vancouver, which I believe predates Gamalinda’s film. It was one of the pieces mentioned by Ron Silliman in his blog post on video poetry this past spring. While I certainly don’t share Silliman’s dismissive attitude toward anything not avant garde, I do enjoy these two videos — and indeed, much of the other more experimental video poetry I’ve encountered on YouTube. Unlike Rob, I find this very engaging.
Dana Guthrie Martin replied:
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Dave, thanks for the link to Konyves’ piece. You know where all the good stuff is on the internets.
I thought it was clever. A few of the cuts seemed forced, though. Or was it my mis-reading (did that really say: think only in spanish?)
It must be from exposure to too many 15 second commercial spots, but I lost interest before the halfway point. If there are rhythms in it, they were lost on me.
Maybe a shorter piece with a cycle of variations…
Dana Guthrie Martin replied:
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am
Barbara, I think it did say “Think only in Spanish,” which I love as a line of poetry.
Barbara, I understand your losing interest. Erratic cuts and edits seem to be a common component of this type of video poetry, as is very low level production — and that is what I find distracting.
But there are many forms of ‘art’ that do not engage me – I still embrace their validity… because to the creator of the work, they are art.
I think I understand the responses to this poem, that is to the technical aspects of it- the erractic cuts, the question of whether rhymth is intentional etc. But doesn’t that jive with the “form” of found poetry anyway? I am curious what you both think of found poetry in general (Rob and Barbara)?
Re Barbara’s remarks about “commercial spots” – this has been something I have been thinking a lot about lately: that we have certain expectations for the media, that it will “entertain” and demand little of us in return. People have questioned whether I am asking/demanding more than the media allows for when I demand close reading from my audience – no one expects to have to watch it twice or actually use the interactive elements. Apparently, my work signals, sit back and I will attempt to entertain you (though I don’t want it to). . . whereas this…
Am I the only one who thinks that this kind of aesthetic approach to video signals “good for you” art? – that it is constructed to indicate a demand for close attention? It is almost saying, “I am not going to entertain you – I took no effort in pleasing you visually, because what I am saying is so important…”
I am probably going to regret posting this. But this isn’t mean as a critique or criticism. I am curious about how the visual presentation relates to the content and intent and the “packaging” of the “kind” of poem it is.
I think art needs an audience (because it is a form of communciation)… I don’t know if a tree makes a sound when it falls in the woods, I don’t think anything is a work of art until it communicates something from one human to another… I am interested in how the packaging targets the audience…
I am going to start a Dave appreciation group, Dana. He is invaluable.
Ren -
To answer your question about found poetry – I find it a curiosity, but I’m not a big fan.
To respond to a comment you made in your post, “I think art needs an audience (because it is a form of communication)”.
I agree completely, and if a work I’m attempting to absorb (to receive the message) is distracting in its form/nature, or so obtuse as to be inaccessible to me – then I’ve received no communication, therefore no personal value or benefit.
Avant garde is fine, but for my taste, it must move me in some way, stir some emotion – not just leave me uninterested.
And bottom line, this is all a matter of personal taste. One person’s pleasure can be another person’s pain.
Ren, sometimes I think it would be a good idea to have the equivalent of flashing lights on the roof a car with the sign “student driver: no passengers”. I’m still at the first exposure stage for too many things.
Found poetry in general is interesting. I like the idea that bringing fresh perception to common things makes them uncommon. What I don’t understand is the border between the found and the created. If I choose words from one context and place them in another, how does that differ from choosing random words from a magnetic pile, or the dictionary–or my own vocabulary and making a poem around them? “front towards enemy” seems less found than cut and pasted, like a ransom demand.
The other work Dave brought into the discussion, the Konyves piece, fit my assumptions better.
Interestingly, my response to both works is not really as poems, or any other verbal communication. These were more like musical performances, and this one is a little atonal for my taste.
Oh, thank you both for responding. I think it is so interesting to hear people honestly talk about these kinds of fringe or nontraditional bits!
I think it is very interesting, what you say about not responding to these as poems, Barbara. I want to think more about that -
For the record, I love atonal music. Clearly, tastes do differ.