publications

VIDEOS

Adventures of my MacBookPro and I into the realm of combining the written word, with spoken word, with musical accompaniment and images.

I taped the video poem “Day to Play Hooky” at Surfer’s Point October 7, 2008:

My son and some of his K-1 schoolmates dictated the text for “I Am A Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate” with my help and then my son and I made this spoken word video poem September 28, 2008:

“The State of Optimism” spoken word video poem with art by Reed Seifer went up  Sept. 3, 2008:

I posted the spoken word video poem “How to write at 3:15am” August 15, 2008:

“Jasmine & Jaguar” is my first video spoken word poem project (August 4, 2008):

BROADSIDES

SEPTEMBER 2008–From 1996-2004, I published some 3 dozen 8.5 x 11″ broadsides in ARTLIFE Limited Editions which combined poetry with original artwork.

One of the goals of the publication was to show both the mind and the hand of the artist. While some of the poets, especially in the years I participated, made their own pages or collaborated with artists (for example friday lubina and michael row or the Sullivans, Kevin Patrick and Patty) toward the end, poetry editor Phil Taggart made most of them which enabled fabled poets like Sharon Doubiago and others (like Michael Bauer) to participate.

I found creating a visual medium to go with my poetry a wonderful intellectual and artistic challenge. Many of my pieces integrated the physical use of my body in some way–like the body paintings, whether I did impressions like above, or had someone paint or henna my pregnant body. I also enjoyed adding the “hand” part–how could it be more than just a copy? How could the “hand” of the artist be revealed as well as the mind? So for example adding the Valentine candies to the collage “I was thinking about getting a dog” in the previous post or sand and glow in the dark stars to “Redemption/Navigation.”

I published 29 of them in a black and white chapbook “ARTLIFE POEMS: Cheaper by the Dozen” (work from 10/96-7/03). Contact me in the comments if you’re interested in purchasing any of the broadsides or the chapbook.

“granite lover” October 1996

For a 1996 erotic art show at Art City, I made a full size body print and beside it scrawled the text of my poem “granite lover.”  Subsequently, I turned the image into a broadside to be published in ARTLIFE Limited Editions. This was my first published broadside. The full text of “granite lover” and the original post of this poem can be found here.

That Man poem & ARTLIFE broadside

“I Want to Be That Man” September 1997

My poem “I Want to be That Man” showed up first as part of an installation for an Art City April Fools Show in 1995. In 1997 for an erotic art show at Art City, I applied the poem onto a shirt as well as copied the shirt then reproduced the poem in blue onto the copy of the shirt to make this broadside for ARTLIFE Limited Editions. The full text of this poem as well as an mp3 can be found here.

Art Life Broadside

For the complete text of the poem above, “Impressions from the Shadowside” which was published in Art Life August 1997, and a some of the story behind making the body print ala Yves Klein, go here.

ArtLife published this broadside, “Celebrate” in its 200 issue; you can read the text there and some of the story behind making the body art print.

“Shells” has a shell embossed on the top; the poem is glued and sewed onto the backing paper. My college students were a huge help on this elaborate project!

Shells (2004) is the last piece I did for ARTLIFE, which stopped publishing in 2005.

“I’d Rather Be an Oak Than a Eucalyptus” (below) December 2000

For ARTLIFE, I infused the paper with a blend of essential oils to smell like the earth around a eucalyptus tree and turned it into a concrete poem in the shape of a tree. It is hard to read here but not in the original.

Go Here for the full text of “Redemption” December 1998

Redemption

“Redemption” December 1998

I collaged these items on the copier glass, copied it in black, then copied the text in blue, then sprayglued sand along the bottom, and applied a glow in the dark star to the top of each page. My yoga students helped me with this one.

“These Brothers They” July 1999

I asked a male friend and my 7 year old nephew to help me do this project. For each of the edition of 216, my nephew, with his free hand, hit the copy button. Everyone is configured a bit differently. After we did the hands in black, I ran the text on top in blue. For the full text originally published in ARTLIFE Limited Editions 1999 go here.

Sonnet for September 11 text and story here

Below is a broadside I did of my 3:15 experiment poem “waiting” (test and story here) as published in the 19th anniversary issue. The brad in the middle that serves as hands rotates, as does the clock face to reveal the poem as the reader spins it around. 

thinking about getting a dog

For “I was thinking about getting a dog,” I did another collage…with the addition of Valentine’s candy in a small ziplock bag attached to each page… go here for the text.

“My Belly Has Never Been Happier Than Now” Nov. 2003

It took my friend Min almost three hours to apply this henna pattern on my 8 month pregnant belly in a free form pattern. We knew we wanted to include the words ARTLIFE and a line from the poem “My belly has never been happier than now.” Several people tried photogrpahing the belly (Kathy Talley, Michael Bauer and MIn) and my friend Jane White helped me design the page using a photo by Min. The image was reproduced using burgandy ink. At my baby shower a few days later, my friends helped me paint them, and a few weeks later, it was published as the back cover of ARTLIFE November 2003.

Find the original blog post and full text of this poem here.

“Transformation” 2003

A few days before we did the henna art project, I asked my friend Alan Sailer to paint an alarm clock set set at just past 3:15am on my 8 month pregnant belly. He found the baby’s kicking rather disturbing but he still kept his hand steady enough for this result. I used blue ink for the ARTLIFE page; this broadside was also published in 2003.

After he painted the clock and Tim Timmerman photographed it, I showered the clock off and Alan painted the chakras with letters up my body, neck and face, and Tim photographed that to produce an image for the front cover of ARTLIFE November 2003.

For the full text of this 315 Experiment poem, please go here. Scroll to the bottom.

“Doors (text and story here),” published in ArtLife May 1997.

As I continue to post them, I will add them to this page so check back!

last updated 9/9/08