Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Puzzle Pieces

I sit amongst the mountains of footage I collected over my year of travel. The tapes pile up, forming what looks like a jagged little city inside the box, along with various release forms, fliers, notes, business cards and train ticket stubs. I see pictures of friends from what seems like another world, or a dream. But it's a dream that affects my every day life-- I turn a corner and am reminded of Vienna. I hear a song, and am drawn back to Australia. I hear the smooth trill and flow of spanish and am taken to Mexico. And so on. I breathe it in, write it out.

I often liken the experience of traveling to cutting yourself open. The return and piecing back together the shattered bits is the hardest yet most interesting part. I had a similar experience when returning from Granada, Spain. Just as I did then, I shut myself away for a while, staring at my hands to remember the feeling of someplace far away. This time, however, it was my poetic voice that was shattered.

Being surrounded by so many amazing artists who were speaking of so many incredible things made me realize that we (as poets) have an incredible power. There's a reason that poetry is considered sacred-- it truly is a spiritual work. We are putting people in contact with each other and with themselves, and it's an art form that is desperately needed in Western society. So when I came home, I looked at myself, my writing, my film and my pictures and put them away. My voice was undergoing a transformation, and to regenerate itself. I needed time to absorb everything I had experienced.

No more than a month ago, I took that box back off the shelf, and dove into my memories. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that it hurt. It was painful, feeling pulled and tugged back into the nomadic instinct. Very often, I daydream of packing up whatever I can and go on my next adventure, perhaps to South America or Africa this time. I'd like to leave this little life I've created behind again, ditching the crappy economy, harsh American culture and the two jobs I work to pay my ever increasing DC rent.

But at the same time, there's work to be done. And I can do it here just as well as anywhere else. Poets need to start talking to each other. We're on to something very big and very important. And so I started talking about it. I started writing about it and now, finally, I dug deep into the recorded memories and started cutting together a film about it. I'll be airing it in episodes, but for now, you'll be able to access the preview/trailor and individual performances at www.youtube.com/speakfilm.