Poetry: "Oh, the Places You'll Go"

"Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss
Performed by the attendees of Burning Man 2011

Tech: Augmented-Realty Poetry

Between Page And Screen is an augmented-reality book of poems (written by Amaranth Borsuk) developed by Brad Bouse. Like a digital pop-up book, you hold the words in your hands. Print a marker and try it with your own webcam.

Poetry: "Dreams" by Fitzgerald Scot

ShapeShifter from Charlex on Vimeo

This stunning piece of animation was created by the Director of Charlex, Alex Weil, and a few of the company's designers as a break from the company's typical advertising work. Weil asked the designers to come up with a project of their own to enable their creativity and unburdened themselves of the the daily rigors of their usual projects. Their one madate was that something great had to come from this freedom, and I think we can all agree that the team suceeded.

The original concept came from Co-Director and Designer Diana Park. Her inspiration came from the idea of a machine that creates nature, rather than the other way around.  The concept grew from simple shape-shifting to a look inside the spirit and soul of a car.  To bind it all together, poet Fitzgerald Scot was asked to provide the words.  His poem Dreams (narrated by Gabriel Byrne) accompanies the animation along with music composed by Peter Lauridsen. The final effect is that of being in a beautiful but disquieting dream.

Art: 100 Words

Neil Gaiman asked Jim Lee to illustrate his poems, “100 Words,” and the results are stunning.  The piece has been lovingly lettered by Todd Klein, who lettered Sandman, and the poem itself is, one of Gaiman's best, if most morbid, pieces.

The 10″ x 28″ digital print is being offered in a limited run of 750, each of which is printed in soy ink on heavy 100% recycled speckled archival stock.  Each copy costs US$50 while supplies last.  Five dollars from each print will benefit the CBLDF. Read more at Neverwear.net.

Poetry: "Nicholas Was..."

Motion graphics studio 39 Degrees North needed a Christmas card, so they turned to Neil Gaiman's poem, "Nicholas Was..." from the anthology Smoke and Mirrors into a short film. The result is a brief but powerful Christmas nightmare.

You can read the original poem on the author's website.

Poetry: "The Raven"

John De Lancie of Star Trek fame is producing the Master Series videos for QMx, which he describes as "the classics of science fiction, fantasy and horror, performed by some of the best-known names in genre entertainment."

Via GeekDad via io9

Poetry: "The Last One"

In honor of W. S. Merwin being named the new Poet Laureate of the U.S., I thought I'd post what has long ben my favorite Merwin poem - maybe my favorite poem ever.

The Last One

 

Well they'd made up their minds to be everywhere because why not.
Everywhere was theirs because they thought so.
They with two leaves they whom the birds despise.
In the middle of stones they made up their minds.
They started to cut. 

Well they cut everything because why not.
Everything was theirs because they thought so.
It fell into its shadows and they took both away.
Some to have some for burning

W. S. Merwin Named New Poet Laureate

W.S. Merwin has been named the 17th U.S. Poet Laureate for 2010-2011.

"William Merwin’s poems are often profound and, at the same time, accessible to a vast audience," said James Billington, Librarian of Congress. "He leads us upstream from the flow of everyday things in life to half-hidden headwaters of wisdom about life itself. In his poem ‘Heartland,’ Merwin seems to suggest that a land of the heart within us might help map the heartland beyond—and that this ‘map’ might be rediscovered in something like a library, where ‘it survived beyond/ what could be known at the time/ in its archaic/ untaught language/ that brings the bees to the rosemary.’" For information about Merwin and his poetry, visit The Poetry Foundation and the Library of Congress Poetry Page.