When David Tomaloff and I started working together last year, one of the first things I asked him was "What about a videopoem-chapbook? Hasn't been done I think. Let that idea sizzle and stew for a while..."
David's reply on that:
"One more quick thing for you to think about: You mentioned a chapbook and told me to think about it. I wanted to tell you I liked the idea. I have a chap on Gold Wake Press that came out in June. It came to mind immediately when you mentioned the idea. It's a series of 6 prose poems I think are begging for videos. Give it a read if you have time; I'd LOVE to have you consider making it into series."
I read 'Exit Strategies' and then I read them again, and again...
They were exactly what I had in mind. While working on 'PROOF' (a triptych) I also started preparing the work on 'Exit Strategies'.
One of the first things I wanted for this project was some 'theme music'. I wanted to make six different video's with the same feel or atmosphere and 'a theme' would be the mortar between the six.
Meanwhile David started reading and recording the poems.
Great readings and recordings, I might add. In the meantime I was working on images, footage for the whole concept.
I gave the six poems different 'working titles' to set a basic feel. In the end I decided to keep the titles (Entry, Wave, Drag, Asylum, Attic and Sum)
Between the different other projects we worked on, David kept on sending in recordings and I kept editing and filming the video's.
The work is done. I'm going to release all six, one by one, in the next weeks. After that they will be published as a complete series.
The first one in line is
Exit Strategies I
{I} HOT KNIVES WILL MELT INTO THE EMPIRES OF FLESH ON THE
CONTINENTS OF THEIR SOFT, SUPPLE THROATS. You can stay up all night
burning powders in their names, but they will come for you all the same. The dawn, to
them, it does not exist. You are never alone in the being alone, and the wolves will open
up, show you the light if you let them. Let them, you will not. You will hold knives over
flame and count beats between the calls of crickets. Hold fast. Steady now, and breathe. A
circular motion. The turning of a screw. A radio going silent in the warehouse of a mind. A
temple. A refinery. A steelhead. A trap. The judge and the judged, both waiting for the
click.
'Entry (Exit Strategies I)'
Words & voice: David Tomaloff
Concept, camera, editing, music: Swoon
Thanks: Methedone Kitty (Sleep/Swim - Footage) & Arlekeno Anselmo
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