Celebrate London Poetry Systems’ 5th birthday Feb. 16 with Alastair Cook and Swoon
London Poetry Systems “came into this world when a few friends decided to put on a kind of club night mixing poetry, music and live visuals. We wanted to see poetry in a new context, one that made sense to us, that spoke of our generation.” They’ve emerged as one of the most vital spaces for contemporary filmpoetry and videopoetry screening in the UK. On February 16, they’ll mark their 5th birthday with appearances by, and live mixes from, Scottish filmpoem maker Alastair Cook and Belgian videopoet Mark Neys, A.K.A. Swoon, as well as the composer Luca Nasciuti, whose work features in the soundtracks of a number of Cook’s filmpoems. Other poets and musicians will perform as well. The location is Edel Assanti, near Hyde Park. Get the complete details from their Facebook event page, or, in a somewhat more abbreviated form, from their website.

I agree, masks would have been interesting. I liked the beginning, before they started speaking, when their arms were flowing in a wave-like pattern. It helped to establish a sort of universal “I.” I would love to know what Dorianne Laux thinks of it. The dancers physically showed the complexities of emotions in the poem. Funny, I just read a poem last night byLucia Perillo called “Four Red Zodiacs,” in which she describes how Baudelaire “couldn’t stand what sex did to the face”. I guess men AND women have their issues when it comes to looking at their partner during sex.