Tuesday, May 12, 2009

5-3-09: Haiku/Oulipo

I should not have been willing to further procrastinate by pondering films. But I was watching Wendy & Lucy and Old Joy, hearing the soundtrack, listening, pouring over the images. Both films were comfortable, like hearing stories from old friends: profound, pliable, and porous. These were movies of outside lives; rapport was quickly gained through each narrative. Despite my enjoyment of the films, I had to get busy: I was surrounded by to do lists and potential video subjects. I began to drink caffeine to get myself wound up, or I was liable to fall asleep, another all-nighter, poor me.

***

The video today was to be a haiku. I followed the syllable prescription for the poetic form by interpreting each shot as a syllable. The black screen serves as a separation between lines.

The writing obstruction was to include the letter combinations ou, li, po in that order, but not necessarily consecutively, in each sentence. This is a tribute to Oulipo, a group of mainly French writers who use constraints to focus their writing. This project was partially inspired by this group.

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