Poetry

What makes a poem a poem - Ted Ed

Poetry has existed for a long time, and is not going anywhere soon. This video from Ted Ed asks what makes poetry poetry. What I found interesting about it is the fact it acknowledges that music, technology, spoken word and art are more and more becoming to be regarded as poetry, and the line is ever blurring as we advance.

This source gave me a couple of interesting points.

To look into the teachings of Rumi.
How Music, Spoken word and Image can combine, this is crucial for my project.
That machines cannot write poetry. This is extremely interesting for my writing and what makes spoken word the correct delivery for the themes and message of my piece.

Hymphatic Thabs - Adaptation of PlanetCab

The Poem PlanetCab

Snakes and Dragons

Simple Symbols for the sake of Babel

For those seeking sobriety from secret societys...

but the, centre a lie a the sentinels might say its sensible

to sing the full anthem. And then hang men through slavery

To say the least, slay the beast from a state of peace..

In this one message he speaks about babel, secret societies, slavery and false patirotism. The

The lyrical genius. Hymphatic Thabs marries impossible rhyme schemes with messages about living in south africa, esoterisicm and spirituallity. He grew up in Lesotho, South Africa and began hip hop in 1994. This song comes from the award nominated album THE AGE OF HORUS. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ALBUMS I HAVE EVER HEARD. I was listening to this at an extremley personal time in my life.

"Through unique and cinematically gripping music videos, he has taken the South African underground hip-hop scene to another level. Using socially conscious rhymes with an experimental sound and comical presentation. Hymphatic Thabs gives a light feeling to an otherwise seriously deemed life that most South Africans are faced with.

His latest offering "The Age Of Horus" is no different in his adamant social commentary spoken through poetic and rhythmical staccato but what distinguishes it from his other previous releases is that, here Hymphatic explores music as a whole and is not restricted to the rules of the genre but challenges the boundaries and creates a new texture to the sound of South African hip-hop. "

Slam

To the right

This video sees Saul Williams's character when he is initially locked up. This shows how his character feels initialy comparecd to the below video it shoss progression through poetry.

To the right

This video sees Saul Williams, saying his spoken word inside the prison courtyard. It showed me how having an audience to listen to him, can give amazing reaction shots that emphasise what he is saying. Example of 1:20 -Stealing us was the smartest thing they ever did. The reaction after this poignant with its framing and the actors facial expressions.

Slam is a film co-written by Saul Williams and Marc Levin.

It tells the story of how social conditions impede a talented youth, but also of how his message is heard where it is most needed; inside America's prison systems. It won at Sundance 1998 for the most dramatic film.
I think this is an excellent source to draw on for my project becasue it features Saul Williams's gut-punch poetry that seems to twist the English language to his desires and intentions. It clearly communicates messages at a base level, yet leaves room for higher intepretations within his rhyme schemes.

Slam gave me a lot of inspiration in:

How I structure my poetry.
The attidude and tempo of the reading matching the characters mental states.
The physicality aspect of performing. I want my acting to feel engaged with the camera which differs to the naturalistic style of filming in Amethyst Rock.

Factotum

The movie Factotum (2005), is an adaptation of Charles Bukowski's 1975 book of the same name, It is set in contemporary times and features Bukowski's alter-ego Henry Chianski played by Matt Dillon who works menial jobs and drinks regularly. The segment from this movie linked on the far right, is a reading of Bukowski's poem - a poem is a city. I thought it was engaging writing, beautifully shot and simply edited to convey a scene's message.

The Zoom out shot is something I would like to replicate within my works for accentuating how large the city is from a worms eye view with my character.

Respiration - by Blackstar

The best song that really describes inner city living,

The Portuguese intro spoken by a woman “Escuchela, la ciudad respirando” translates to Listen to it, the city is breathing.

The video is a mix of camera performances, stills that dissolve over certain frames; and time-lapses accompany the lyrical content. the shot at 1:18 is of particular interest how it zooms back in stages instead of cleanly in one pull. I want to attempt to practice a zoom like this. The short montage at 1:29 sees Mos Def finish rapping, turn and run back towards the skyscrapers as the camera slightly tilts down to reveal the the street he runs down. I love this shot and want to emulate it.

This video and song also gave me a number of takeaways.

Some quotes for inspiration when writing.
That the mood of the city as a being is understood
That performative shots work well to camera
That stills mixed in with video also looks really good

Quotes for my writing inspiration:

'I can’t take it ya’ll, I can feel the city breathing

Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening

Sigh before we die like the last train leaving'

'Hell froze the night the city slept

The beast crept through the concrete jungle'

'It’s a paradox we call reality

So keeping it real will make you a casualty of abnormal normality'

'Blasting holes in the night ‘til she bled sunshine'

My City - George The Poet

The rhythm of his speaking has a great inflection to it.

I'd also like to touch on the cinematography of this piece. We begin out of focus, the buildings in the back in focus. The performance shots are mixed in with cutaways of Londoners and see George facing towards the buildings that reflect the blue sky with his back to the camera to perform. I really like shots like this as it shows where the poetry and message is directed.

Insta-Rations

Here are things I have seen either on instagram or real life that inspired me instantly. Thus the title - Insta Rations

Urban Isolation; my art

@Counterfuture. I love this.

The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

spotted artwork

Quote from Jack Micheline of the beat generation.

Quote from the Huxley

Quote from Gomez Davila

Quote from Postman

Tower of Babel Reimagined

CounterCulture Sticker

Absorbed in phones

Quote from Strindberg

Summary

This poetry section helped to look more at existing poetry and its films. The most useful things on this page are actually the quotes in the Insta-Rations page which kept me thinking, constantly and constantly. The rest are kind of distractions to my own poetry. I don't want or need to learn from these. I think interviews with a poet like Lemn Sissay would have been useful.

I would have, and should have touched on Hymphatic Thabs in this section and dissect some of his lyrics.

Bibliography

Kovacs, M., 2018. What makes a poem... a poem?. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhouCNq-Fc> [Accessed 13 April 2022].

Ro, C., 2016. The Dutch City Poets Who Memorialize the Lonely Dead. [online] Blog.pshares.org. Available at: <https://blog.pshares.org/the-dutch-city-poets-who-memorialize-the-lonely-dead/> [Accessed 16 March 2022].

Factotum. 2005. [DVD] Directed by B. Hamer.

1999. Respiration. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeTnog5RRQo>.

Williams, S., n.d. Amethyst Rock. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSR7H580e5U> [Accessed 5 April 2022].

Discogs. n.d. Tha Hymphatic Thabs. [online] Available at: <https://www.discogs.com/artist/942661-Tha-Hymphatic-Thabs>.

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