Atticus Review is pleased to present 12 Moons, a series of twelve videopoems born from the collaboration of four extremely talented individuals. We’ll run one installment each month to allow these extraordinary pieces to span the entire year. Click here to see previous installments from the 12 Moons Series.
Flower Moon from Marc Neys (aka Swoon) on Vimeo.
***
When I was born they
gave me a name
that itched like a rash,
and demanded ritual objects.
A name afraid of loss.
A name the color of soil.
A name that sounds like
three small cars colliding.
The name on my grandmother’s
Nazi passport. A name I asked
the moon to tame, name
of heath, flower of thrift,
of scrimp-and-save, blossoms
hoarding hardy seeds;
standing up to lean times with
ruffles and pale veined tissue.
A name of terror on barren
dunes, of chainmail and sword,
magical runes, a name
that witnessed and catalogs,
stumbles, clumsy, syllables
I write, cross out, rewrite,
cross out as if my life
depended on it.
***
12 Moons is an artwork combining poetry, voice, music and video. Twelve poems written by Erica Goss form the narrative. The poems move through a year of full moons, reflecting the hidden influence of the moon on one person’s life. Kathy McTavish’s original music adds complexity to Nic S’s intense and compelling narration, framed by Swoon’s precise editing of sound and image, which creates a miniature universe for each poem within the context of the project.
Erica Goss is the Poet Laureate of Los Gatos, CA. Her chapbook, Wild Place, was published in 2012 by Finishing Line Press. She won the 2011 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Contest and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010. Recent work appears in Lake Effect, Passager, Main Street Rag, Pearl, Rattle, Wild Violet, and Comstock Review, among others. She writes The Third Form, a column about video poetry, for Connotation Press. Please visit her website: www.ericagoss.com.
Swoon (aka Marc Neys) is a videopoem addict with 120+ international collaborations to his name. His videos and sound-scapes have been selected for festivals everywhere, and his 2013 film ‘Drift’ won first prize at ‘La Parola Immaginata 2013′. Since October 2013 Swoon is also video-editor for the online magazine Awkword Paper Cut.
Kathy McTavish is a composer/cellist and multimedia artist. Her music has been used behind spoken word, theater, visual art/sound installations, and film. Kathy’s latest work blends sound and her own abstract, still-motion film to create an immersive, multimedia experience. She is a 2009 recipient of an American Composers Forum / Jerome Foundation commission. In 2010 she received an Arts andCultural Heritage Individual Artist Fellowship from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council for work with sound and film. More information here.
Nic S is co-founder of The Poetry Storehouse (http://
Photo By: United Soybean Board
