United States of Poetry, The (2-DVD SET)

United States of Poetry, The (2-DVD SET)	Email This Page
Filmmaker: Mark Pellington and Bob Holman	As Seen On: Public Television

DVD - $ 95.00
Price listed includes Public Performance License.
PART 1: The Land and the People Poetry in a New World, a place where our different origins as a people and the way we intermarry mirror how our sensibilities and ideas come together to form a new poetry. Among the poets featured in this episode are Henry Real Bird. A former rodeo cowboy, now a renowned cowboy poet, he considers the Little and Big Horn Valleys his living room, and twists language like a river, sails the river with his voice. Also featured is Tracie Morris, well-known for her improvisational performance techniques, where the `poem meets the rap.` PART 2: A Day in the Life Cycle. Routine. Rhythm. From our first waking minute to setting our alarm clock for the next morning, we are beholden to the drumbeat of time in all its shapes and form. We`ll hear the words of Derek Walcott, who won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings evoke the cultural diversity and richness of the Caribbean, where he was born, in St. Lucia. Czeslaw Milosz won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in Lithuania and grew up in Poland. He is known as a poet of truth -- his visions of war are harrowing portraits of suffering, of humanity somehow coming through inhumanity, and vice versa. PART 3: The American Dream Can poetry be politicized? What does it mean to be a poem if it contains a political message? Has it ceased to be poetry and become propaganda? Among the poets appearing is cult rocker, hero to many, perhaps the continent`s most successful poet, Leonard Cohen wrote the songs "Suzanne," and "Bird on a Wire," and novels Beautiful Losers and The Dangerous Game. His poem "Democracy" can be found on his album, The Future. PART 4: Love and Sex “What is love?” An eternal question that gives vent to what is arguably the subject closest to a Poet`s heart. Can love be dissected? The subject of love is uppermost in the minds of poets such as Allen Ginsburg, who became one of the literary symbols of the Beat Generation and who was an irrepressible voice for justice in a world he saw corrupted by materialism and conformity. PART 5: The Word Poets are artists, playing with language, and while the words can be simple, there are layers of meaning. Volumes can be spoken with simplicity. This episode features Jack Kerouac`s Mexico City Blues as read by Johnny Depp, a Kerouac Scholar and avid fan when not acting in movies. Already a well known housing and peace activist, President Jimmy Carter introduces us to his latest endeavor as a poet. Running time: 132 min., Year released: 2008 Close captioned?: N, Color?: Y Avail. formats: dvd ISBN: 9781559747868 Language: English, Subtitled?: N For classroom?: Y, Study Guide?: N Grade level: 7th and up Reviews: "Unabashedly celebrates the Word. These days, that's downright courageous." Other Credits: Directed by Mark Pellington Produced and Created by Joshua Blum & Bob Holman Co-Produced by Anne Mullen Director of Photography: Thomas Krueger Edited by Adam Schwartz

This title can also be found in: Americana, Artists, Musicians & Performers, Cultural Studies, Poetry