Today I’m very grateful to ongoing collaborator Rob McLennan, who invited me (back in January) to respond to his question prompts, “12 or 20.” I don’t often share much about my creative process apart from a few close friends, and Rob’s questions allowed me to dive in.
You can read the questions (and see a fun image of me from the Olympic Peninsula) here.
Below you’ll find a new video, an homage to the great KMRU. His ambient music is stunning, and I have found myself listening to it for many, many hours. The music video was created under fair use. The footage is from a recent trip to Copper Creek in the Olympic National Forest. As a bonus to the video, I have decided to include some new GIFs, created with Resolve and QGifer (a new app I’ve been flexing with).
Additional GIFs (recommended download):
My second contribution to North of Oxford for June is a review of Consecration of the Wolves by Salgado Maranhão, translated from the Portuguese by Alexis Levitin. An incredible, though disturbing work that continues to sit with me weeks after I’ve read it. Find the review here.
My latest contribution in the review world is for two books by Red Hen Press: American Quasar with poems by David Campos and art by Maceo Montoya, and A Camera Obscura by Carl Marcum. You can read about these two unique and timely books here. This is my first review of publications from Red Hen.
In March 2021, I was gifted a box of The Moon’s Jaw from the author, who had sat on the book for years and was in the process of leaving the Seattle area for parts unknown. A splendid book, I was not told what to do with the truly massive number of copies of a collection of poetry published years ago without a clear audience. I found homes for a few of them thanks to friends and libraries I frequent. I was left with 54.
In the middle of April 2021, I came up with an idea. Rather than holding onto this box of poetry for an unknown and potentially unlimited period of time, I would systematically look at distributing the books via the Little Free Library network in Seattle. I did not look up the libraries I would visit ahead of time en masse, rather opting for a more organic/spontaneous was of distribution as fit my schedule.
I have created a map of the locations here. Note the locations are listed as intersections, as I did not have the exact addresses for each library.
I did not consult with Rauan Klassnik throughout the process, instead hoping this would be a mildly delightful/dreadful surprise when announced.
It is my hope that the Seattle Metropolitan Area will come to love Rauan Klassnik, who has (had?) been a local literary gem in the rough, whose poetic influence might improve/derail the lives of many in the quaint little neighborhoods that house such little libraries.
Images showing proof of this distribution are embedded below.
After some toiling across software platforms, I have finalized another project: Dunn Gardens (2021). This project includes the following:
For fun, here are the still images used in the track images in Bandcamp, screenshots from the video revealing the black and white beginnings of each flower shot:
I had the privilege and pleasure of writing on the new collection by Thulani Davis, Nothing But the Music, which has been added to North of Oxford. Highly recommend the book to anyone who’s interested in the Black Arts Movement and poetry by Black women past or present.
Using a new GoPro and cutting across the snow mile after mile, I recorded the Taylor River video below. The sound is a “live soundtrack” that I created while rewatching the video, experimenting with Komplete Kontrol, Ableton Live II, Massive, and Erosion+Distort+Reverb effects. I appreciated how Davinci and Ableton worked well together, and how everything ended up fitting despite some major hiccups in the process–namely with understanding some of the fundamental recording requirements in Ableton 11. The song can be found on Bandcamp here.
Excited to briefly announce that Of Spray and Mist is now available at Third Place Books in Seward Park and Ravenna. Hopefully soon in Lake Forest Park.
It’s been strange to get the physical book into hands of anyone other than close friends during the pandemic. This slow distribution provides some joy and memories of pre-COVID life.
A post on the current state of poetry in Myanmar has been published in Poetry NW. This follows a brief exchange with Maung Day prior to his ducking into hiding and the cutting off of internet in the country. I’m grateful to Bill Carty for working with me on this piece–to bring light to the struggles and the work within Myanmar, and to continue to foster the connection I developed with the writers I first met years ago.
My second review of Jamie Sharpe’s work is in North of Oxford. I review Everything You Hold Dear following up Dazzle Ships from way back in 2017.
I’m excited to have received a copy of the latest Rain Taxi in my mailbox this weekend. The Spring 2021 issue features two book reviews concerning the poetry of the Serbian poet Marija Knežević (Breathing Technique, from Zephyr Press), and the Spanish Agustín Fernández Mallo (Pixel Flesh, Cardboard House Press). You can order a copy from via the Rain Taxi website.
A very large group of poets across Myanmar have collected their voices in a single video embedded below. The link follows the death of K Za Win, and the oppression of many other poet activists and activists generally in the country over the last several months following the military coup. All of this strikes me personally as I met K Za Win back when I visited Myanmar, and had a chance to exchange poetry with him and other Monywa-based poets.
I thank Maung Day, who is as of today both safe and actively organizing, for taking time to share the video with me.
The track linked below, Cherry Creek Falls, features another recent track composed in Ableton 11. The music, composed of two individual tracks, was applied to footage taken from Cherry Creek Falls outside of Duvall, Washington in March 2021. This was the first abstract video I created with the Express (free) edition of Hitfilm, an app that’s very similar to Adobe Premiere (without the incredible cost). With all of the difference blending applied, the video rendering and exporting resulted in some pixelation and otherwise gritty results, but I have decided to cough that up to the software limitations. Overall, I’m still a fan of the psychedelic qualities in this work. I also find the slowed down, close-up of the falls to be a bit hard to watch–perhaps inducing motion sickness? In a way, there’s a surreal quality to this negative effect–one I couldn’t ignore or remove when I first discovered it.
The track is available on Bandcamp, and the video (which includes some waterfall leads) is available on YouTube. (Or watch below:)
My first foray into sheer noise, performative noise, and one of my first tracks in Ableton 11. “Inside” is a track created while watching the New French Extremity horror film of 2007 (À l’intérieur). After finalizing this experimental track, I decided to apply it to the segment of the film that inspired the composition. Note my application of fair use here is the first in my history of video and audio work.
Note that the video is incredibly graphic, and the violent content may not be suitable for all viewers or viewing environments.
Track’s on Bandcamp.
Vid’s on YouTube and below:
