Mix-Tape Video-Poems are mash-ups of video, poetry, and music. As some of you may know, I began as a musician/songwriter. These new hybrid works feel like “bringing it all back home” (thanks Bob!). Please let me know what you think of them. (Be patient — the videos can take a minute to load on a smart phone.)

“I get it, this is difficult to listen to”

This first one, I get it, this is difficult to listen to, comes out of my desire to bring together personal and political history. A certain event (an earthquake that dislocated my family) is brought together with what might be considered the birth of pure speculation in financial markets.

Click here to watch:

I had the text of the poem first. The music, as is usually the case, was added afterwords, built up from a very simple acoustic part.

Here is the text of the poem: I get it, this is difficult to listen to-new line.

 

“Melancholia”

This next one came out of my experience of working with people with addiction, specifically meth, heroin, and opioid addictions (shout out to the Day Reporting Program). I notice that people have a tendency to want to look away quickly in the face of the ravages of addiction. This is a really complicated response — but I think it needs to be resisted. We need to look — with as much clarity and compassion as we can muster. That’s what this mix-tape poem-video attempts to argue.

Click here to watch:

Again, I started with the text of the poem. The poem juxtaposes that impulse to look away to issue of denial, or even negative hallucination — this last inability to face reality is part of the problem of addiction — and the amazing movie  Melancholia, which I would argue deals with really similar themes but from a different perspective. The video was shot over the winter while I was walking my dog. I treat it here (pretty much in all of these videos) as a kind of atmosphere or rhythm.

Here is the full text: melancholia-cut down4.

Big Sur / Bad Romantic Poet

This one is really two poems smashed together. But I really liked the music (it came first this time) and the accompanying video, and I thought that the poems complimented each other. I welcome all (not hostile) suggestions and ideas.

Click here to watch:

The music here is based around a keyboard rift and my joy of playing bass these days. It’s really 2 poems about: a) getting and staying sober; b)  my dislike of romantic nature poetry; and c) the weirdness and low-key grossness of nature…

Here is the raw text: bad romantic poet

“Linger on, Your Pale Blue Eyes”

Finally, here is the latest of my mixtape poems.

This one, like “I get it, this is difficult to listen to,” has a fair amount of autobiography in it.  As is evident from the title (a Velvet Underground song), music plays an important role. I tend to connect certain periods of my life, even certain houses I lived in as a kid, to particular pop songs on the radio.

Click here to watch:

The ideas, language, and images in this poem come from childhood memories — I was 5 or 6 when we lived in this house. I had several recurring dreams, including one in which my parents were abducted or killed, and robot, look-alike parents were left in their place. I hope the poem captures the dreaminess as well as the darker images/ideas.

I look forward to getting feedback from everyone who has a chance to experience these poems — contact me @ ruderman.4@gmail.com.