Friday, May 23, 2008

Slide Poems 1998-Present





I started incorporating found slides into my composition process around 1998. I've used the slides in many different ways over the years. Recently, I've projected a fairly random group of slides at poetry readings and asked audiences to randomly pick sections of verse I've written specifically for a particular group of slides. This way, the audience helps determine the order of the sections of the poem, and also which section is read with which image. Each of the poems is read only once. It is composed for a specific reading, on a specific day, and then I put the slides and the poem away in a labeled box. I plan to keep the boxes for a minimum of five years before opening them again. I'll post some examples of slides that I've used in past readings, prior to the "not looking at the slides again for five years" part of my process. Also, I'm always looking for more slides if anyone ever stumbles across some and is feeling generous.