Video Poems

Video poems are a great way to present your work.  For the "best of the web" and a wide range of the work that's being done today, see the website http://movingpoems.com/

spoken word:
"Was It I?"  http://vimeo.com/30031642
(poem from Cloud Birds)

spoken word/ sequence of poems
"Immersion"  http://vimeo.com/19985791
(excerpt from Echo and Lightning)

Written word: 
"Black Iris" :  http://vimeo.com/29698643

The abstract visual images and sound are by Kathy McTavish.

Video poems are similar to music videos -- they are very engaging.  Some are animations, some are documentary, some are an intriguing amalgamation of visual images, photography, drawing, and what-have-you.   Poetry is able to come off the page and into a visually interesting and musical environment that can enhance the work.

The ones that work the least well, it seems, are the ones whose images provide a literal illustration of the words of the poem.  As a result, it causes the evocative quality of both the poem and the film to dissipate.  The film should work as a narrative or imagistic flow on its own; the poem can be spoken, written on the film frames, or occur like text on a foreign film. I think the best video poems form interesting interstices and gaps between poem and film that allow the reader to enter into the making of meaning.