New at The Continental Review

From Nicholas Manning's The Newer Metaphysicals:

What is situated between reflection and reproduction? It is something like the space between sonority, visuality, textuality: a place of movement and transition, and specifically, that point of transition where difference stops being visible, and we move almost imperceptibly into the plane(s) of resemblance. Two heads cross, becoming one, or two birds' beaks cross, becoming leaves: language participates too in this continual, Ovidian metamorphosis, and thus gives the lie to Horace's taxonomy of stable parts.

This is by far, for me, one of the most coherent and also beautiful projects we've had the chance to feature at The Continental Review to date, a piece which achieves a stunning coherency between visuality, sonority and textuality, interweaving them into an integrated, if not thankfully seamless, fabric.

Not surprising either that this effort should come from Mark Young. The video features poems from Mark's Series Magrittes, read by Miia Toivio, with animation by Marko Niemi. As you'll see from that link just above, Mark's Series Magrittes, in its current state, is available from Moria as a fully downloadable e-book, which is a pretty excellent gratos Christmas gift.

So, do check out this extraordinary piece which announces the possibilities of a poetic medium for the new century.

From Mark Young's gamma ways :

When I posted some time back an announcement by Nicholas Manning that he had started an online journal, The Continental Review, devoted to poetry videos, I noted that I hoped it wouldn’t become a repository just for talking heads (“don’t forget the shoulders,” added Nicholas in the comments boxes).

Since then, amongst the poets who have appeared are a number associated with Otoliths; verbal — Tom Beckett, Jordan Stempleman, Eileen Tabios, Jill Jones — & visual — Spencer Selby, Nico Vassilakis. But I felt I should do something about my original statement & practice what I preach, as it were.

So finally, thanks to the informal Networks sans Frontières that create community in our (electronic) world, & especially thanks to the creative genius of Marko Niemi, substance has replaced pontifical stance. A video, working title "Three from Series Magritte", has just gone up at The Continental Review.

The poems included are:
The Flavour of Tears
Not to be Reproduced
The Art of Conversation
all from from Series Magritte, published by Moria Books.

The readings by Miia Toivio first appeared on Toisen äänellä – In Another´s Voice on the Nokturno.org website.

The design concept & the animated flash file are by Marko Niemi without whom this project would never have been realized.

Check it out at The Continental Review.

Think about contributing.