poetry in motion

US Poets

Decoded: RZA > ‘Unspoken Word’ & ‘Protect Ya Neck’

Wu-Tang Clan leader and hip-hop production genius, The RZA breaks down “Unspoken Word” off his alter-ego solo album, The RZA as Bobby Digital In Stereo and his verse from Wu-Tang’s break out hit, “Protect Ya Neck.”

http://lifeandtimes.com/decoded-the-rza-unspoken-word-protect-ya-neck

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White Flour > David LaMotte

A video version of David LaMotte’s book White Flour, illustrated by Jenn Hales. Read by the author.

Feel free to link to this video, embed it in blogs or show it in any public gathering or virtual space that stands for love, against racism and against violence. We reserve the right to deny its usage if we do not agree with the goals it is being used in service of.

Follow David LaMotte on Twitter: @davidlamotte.

Subscribe on Facebook via facebook.com/davidlamotte.

http://www.whiteflourbook.com/


Confrontation > Michael Franti/Spencer Love/Penny Shaw

“Confrontation”
poem spoken by Michael Franti
from 1 Giant Leap
http://www.whataboutme.tv/

(musicians)
michael franti
jiggs
spencer love
tehamua nikora
penny shaw
kirsten olivier
soweto string quartet
kishore kumar mishra
paco
carol robinson
frank byng
smart and friends
bahman mobayen
robin jeffrey
duncan bridgeman

(interviews)
fred reid
david oldfield
george naku


Poetry in Motion > a series of animated poems by Billy Collins

Untitled from design:related on Vimeo.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, CBilly ollins’ popular poems come alive in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY commissioned by the Sundance Channel. Below, Collin’s describes how the project came about.

Sundance Poetry: The Dead, Budapest, Forgetfulness

Art Director Toby Barlow
Copywriter Billy Collins
Creative Director Toby Barlow
Designer Julian Grey, Isaac King, Philippe Blanchard
Director Julian Grey, Juan Delcan
Producer Anthony Garetti, Sue Riedl, Graciela Del Toro
Production Company Headgear, Spontaneous
Editor Julian Grey
Studio/Design Firm JWT/Lodge 212
Client Sundance Channel
Country United States


I Spy > Martha McCollough

A love poem in the voice of a surveillance satellite.
Built in Aftereffects/sound design in Logic.


ESCAPE (Tryptich) > Donna Vorreyer & Swoon

A videopoem tryptich by Swoon for the poems ‘Disturbance in the Maze’, ‘Wailing Wall Crumbs’ and ‘Ghostless Blues (The story of Vladimir K.)’ by Donna Vorreyer.

The three poems were written by Donna on a visual and aural prompt by Swoon (he also provided the titles as a hint or obstacle. By letting the three films guide her in the writing of the poems she gave the experimental films a story throughout her poems. And that was the experiment in the first place. I only added a few images or made additional cuts according to the reading or the poem.

Words & Voice: Donna Vorreyer
Concept, camera, editing & music: Swoon


Art Of Drowning > Billy Collins

Poem by Billy Collins.

Directed by Diego Maclean.


Dreams For My Generation > Faduma Warsame

Dreams For My Generation performed by Faduma Warsame

Created by Poet Nation

http://www.thepoetnation.com/


Heliotropes > Brian Christian

Heliotropes / 2010 / 3 min / HD / Stereo

HELIOTROPES documents the parallel goals of man and nature, through the most primitive and sophisticated means, to simply stay in the light.

Based on the poem by Brian Christian.

“Heliotropes” premiered at SXSW in March 2011.

langanfilms.com


Seasalt > David Mason

Motionpoem by Amy Schmitt, Kelly Pieklo and Emily J. Snyder.

Read by Vera Mariner.

http://www.motionpoems.com


Oh The Places You’ll Go > Dr Seuss

Based on Dr. Seuss’s final book before his death, this is a story about life’s ups and downs, told by the people of Burning Man 2011.

For new video updates Like Tedshots: http://facebook.com/tedshots

Captions now translatable to any language.

Directed by:
Teddy Saunders – tedshots.com
Parker Howell – parkerhowell.com
William Walsh – wbwalsh.com
Produced and Edited by Teddy Saunders
Digital FX and Color by Parker Howell
Original Score by Darius Holbert – dariusholbert.com
Sound Mix by Tyler Payne

Shot on Canon 7D’s with various lenses, a Glidecam and a Zoom H4N.

All proceeds from advertising go towards next years project.
This video is our gift to you. If you wish to donate $20 or more for next years film then we will put your name in the credits. Your support keeps us going!
To donate: http://bit.ly/zrfPwB

Watch the trailer for this film on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/29033100

Dr. Seuss properties TM & © 1991 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. All Rights Reserved.


Said The Shotgun To The Head > Saul Williams

Saul Williams performing an excerpt from his 2003 book, “,Said the Shotgun to the Head”.

www.saulwilliams.com


The Beginning of Infinity > Jason Silva

THE BEGINNING OF INFINITY from Jason Silva on Vimeo.

“The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.” – Steven Johnson

http://thisisjasonsilva.com/


Cats and Dogs > Boonaa Mohammed

Directed and Edited by Syd Woodward, Sound Design by Ray Muloin http://getgrounded.tv

Cats and Dogs
It’s kind of dumb… but ummm,
I used to think that every time it rained an angel began to cry,
And it made me sad to see emotions drip from the sky
Ask me why and I’d tell you that I could see it coming from a mile
But denial ain’t just a river, it attacks you inner child.
But he had everything a boy could every want,
Money, power, respect and fancy toys to flaunt,
Guys wanted to be him,
Girls wanted to meet him,
He was a smooth criminal, lingo was never corny,
The star of countless, classic ghetto stories
Legendary general, controlled armies of lost souls
Gangster and a gentleman locked in one soul,
Survival was the only thing that he would ever know
A product of society so where did we go… wrong
Cause an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind,
You pick at karma enough and she’ll stop by to say hi,
I never knew which one came first, thunder or lighting,
But as life takes you on a ride, the resemblance can be striking,
Evil deeds resulting from a dysfunctional seed,
Grew from poverty the streets is all he needs,
Found comfort around pimps pushers and thugs,
The only family that he ever showed true love,
But could you blame him?
I mean, idea plus conviction becomes reality,
Oppressive systems creating another ghetto causality
Just singing that same old song,
The one that begins in the womb and ends in a tomb,
Plenty of brothers have taken the exact same path,
Did dirt but always searched for a nice clean bath,
His name rang bells from high schools to prison cells,
The word on the street was about his latest confrontation,
Rolling through projects armed with nothing but a reputation,
Lived life to the fullest, but when it rains it pours
And Good deeds can’t necessarily feed the poor
So he stole from the rich and he stole from the poor,
People tried to help him but he just wanted more,
He had angles and demons perched on both shoulder engaging in immortal combat
Fighting to control his mind and use his tongue as a door mat,
He would say things, than contradict with his actions,
Leaning towards the devils satisfaction, he was living life too fast.
Locked in a cage practically every summer,
Collect three-ways connecting the dumb to the dumber,
Friends were not friends, simply there for the moment,
Praying for his downfall, but he would never know it,
Karma eventually caught up and it wasn’t safe for him or his family,
Could have stayed underground but he was way too manly,
Because you can take the boy out of the jungle
But you can’t take the jungle out of the boy,
The stress in his voice meant that he knew it was coming,
I think he let it happen because he was sick of running
And as you probably guessed, past tenses indicate that he is no longer present,
Just another statistic to be brought up during the next stinkin elections,
Nothing special, despite the impact he had on so many lives,
When he died I couldn’t even force myself to cry,
Because I said goodbye a lot sooner than most,
I remember when he was a king but now he’s just a ghost,
He taught me so many things; he was skilled in so many ways,
He could have been so many things but he was killed in broad day,
He really let me down, he said that everything would be okay… but he lied
Because I’m looking out my window…
And it’ still raining outside.

WWW.BOONAA.COM


Forgetfulness > Billy Collins

Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America’s best-selling poets, reads his poem “Forgetfulness” with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins’ popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.

– – – – – –

The Poem – The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.


True lies> Taalam Acey

TRUE LIES
Recommended Dosage: 3-4 views as needed. Best results if taken 30 minutes prior to television consumption.’

“If Guerrilla News Network 60 Minutes, Taalam Acey would be our Andy Rooney.”

A true guerrilla collaboration to give audiences a taste of what to expect from the soon to be released documentary, American Blackout directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba. Set to premiere at Sundance 2006 the feature length film follows the career of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and investigates the current tactics used to control our democratic process and silence political dissent. This piece originally inspired by the book of the same name, features Taalam Acey’s ever potent prose deftly matched by the animation of Haik Hoisington and scored to the music of another GNN ally, The Soulsavers.

From the documentary: American Blackout


Harlem > Miles Hodges


Spoken word: Miles Hodges

Filmed and edited by Andre Wagner of Abstractelements.com.

Directed by M.Johnson and A. Wagner.

Find Miles on twitter @milesxmiles
facebook http://www.facebook.com/poetmileshodges


Speech > Chief Seattle

Chief Seattle Speech from Jeremy Pfeiffer on Vimeo.

Cymatic transposition of Chief Seattle’s visionary speech…


Thanksgiving Prayer > William S. Burroughs

Thanksgiving Day, Nov 28,1986 first appeared in the chapbook Tornado Alley, with illustrations by S. Clay Wilson. Gus Van Sant then made a short film of Burroughs reading the text.
This poem resonates today as exposing what has gone horribly wrong in the USA, or maybe what has always been wrong.
Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 1986

William S. Burroughs
For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts
thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison
thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger
thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot
thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes
thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through
thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces
thanks for Kill a Queer for Christ stickers
thanks for laboratory AIDS
thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs
thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business
thanks for a nation of finks — yes,
thanks for all the memories all right, lets see your arms you always were a headache and you always were a bore
thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.


People Matter > Scott Visk

People Matter from Scott Visk on Vimeo.

Words & Video: Scott Visk

Song: Opus 37 by Dustin O’Halloran

Special thanks to Micah Bournes for helping me complete my thoughts.


Terrorism Is Not A Religion > Hersi

Hersi is a former US Marine and veteran of Iraq. He is also a Somali Muslim. In this Video he recounts his experience as a Muslim in the American school system and the US military.

http://www.thePoetNation.com


Advertising Lullaby > George Carlin

Week 10 Kinetic Poem – George Carlin “Advertising Lullaby” from Jenny Lien on Vimeo.

The mantra of the market…

Words: George Carlin
Video: Jenny Lien


HOWL > Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg’s HOWL, animated excerpt from the feature length film.

http://www.allenginsberg.org/

http://howlthemovie.com/


Spoken Wordsmith > Joshua Bennett

Spoken word artist Joshua Bennett revisits the high school that sponsored his education to give something back and perform his latest poem.

Article: http://reesha.re/SpokenWord

http://joshbennettthepoet.tumblr.com/