#two: the poetry problem
For years now, I have been attempting to study and execute better ways to expose poetry. In an age where entertainment literature is dominating the book sales market, I wonder what will happen to poetry. Perhaps poetry is too metaphorical, too confusing and frustrating for the average reader. I have been looking at the path of poetry and attempting to understand and perhaps alter where it might lead. The poetry problem is more one highlighting perseverance than a solution. I have included it because I think it is important to know that there are some problems where the solution lies in the determination not to give up. Poetry can be more than strict form and old fashioned language. It can touch a part in each of us that might have otherwise never been nudged. Spoken word poetry, ancient haiku, free form prose and lyric can take words and morph them into pathways leading into the past or future.
How can I share THIS poetry with you?
THAT is the poetry problem.
Below I have included some examples of my poetic work from the past few years. I have taken inspiration from self published and mainstream poets. I have explored fine artists of the book and those interested in the power of words. At a time in history where it is becoming easier and easier to read books electronically, I have taken into consideration the change in media that poetry might have to look to in order to grow with the culture. All of the works below are projects I have created within the scope of the poetry problem. For these reasons, I have included what I consider the best examples of my poetic works in three categories, self published low cost editions of poetry, fine art representations of poetry, and video based poetry that removes the book altogether. Please read the captions on the photographs for further explanations of these works.
A collaborative work between pianist Thomas Crouch, cellist Christina Wu and artist Epiphany Couch. This work explores a Taoist mentality through the words of poets, Saul Williams, Margaret Atwood, Richard Braitigan, and Charles Bukowski, with the aid of Debussy's Sonata in D minor. In this exploratory video, I wanted to look at a group of poets that might not have ever connected. I wished to explore the idea that poetry IS part of us and we are poetry.
