CATCHING UP ON CATCHING UP AND A NEW VIDEO

For some time, I’ve wanted to update this blog. But I’ve been too busy clearing up a two-year backlog of old projects, learning the software necessary to create new ones and sending out poems that have been sitting in my folders for months and, in some cases, years.

In the few weeks since I’ve returned to submitting work, I’ve had a number of poems accepted, but none have been published yet. When they appear in print, I’ll post the the news here. If I post the news prematurely, I might find myself counting eggs as chickens.

The most important piece of recent work that exists outside the pending file is the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZmBlA2WiY4

It’s my basspo rendition of the opening pages of IMPROVISATIONS. In addition to advancing my knowledge of the software involved in making videos, it’s also given at least one colleague an insight into the way the lines of my multi-voiced texts interact. Interested readers can find the discussions in the May archives of the Buffalo Poetics List or on the WRYTING list.

Ever since I heard Ted Enslin read in Willimantic, Connecticut twenty-five years ago, I’ve maintained that hearing a poet’s voice gives readers a key to understanding the work. Even the recitation of a shy or uncomfortable performer renders the rhythm and sense of a work more accessible. For several decades, I’ve thought the best rendering of my work would involve a recitation, a screen portraying the text and a band. Although I’ve retired from performing in public, YouTube has provided me a venue that allows me to present my work in a way that will entertain others and, as I’ve discovered, help guide them to a greater understanding of my work.