BLOODAXE YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Our main video page shows high definition films posted on Vimeo, including samples from all the poetry films made by Pamela Robertson-Pearce featured in the Bloodaxe DVD-book In Person: 30 Poets. We have posted other videos of Bloodaxe poets (and videos relating to Bloodaxe) on YouTube, including some classic footage from the past. Scroll down to see this footage. But if you want to see high quality, high definition poetry videos, you should go to our main Poetry Videos page:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/articles.asp?id=36

ROBERT ADAMSON: The Speaking Page (2009)

This short film features Robert Adamson reading his poem 'The Speaking Page' with photographs of Australia's Hawkesbury by Juno Gemes. It is extracted from A pod of poets, produced for ABC's excellent Poetica podcast series of Australian poetry by Libby Douglas with sound engineer Phillip Ullman. The full feature mixes soundscapes of the Hawkesbury River where Robert Adamson grew up and has lived for many years with Juno Gemes. To listen to the podcast, check out Poetica. For more details of Robert Adamson's latest collection The Kingfisher's Soul, go to
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248203

ELIZABETH ALEXANDER: inaugural poem for Barack Obama (2009)

Elizabeth Alexander reads Praise Song for the Day: A Poem for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration to an audience of over a million in front of the Capitol in Washington, DC, on 20 January 2009. Over a billion people watched the inauguration worldwide. For more details of Elizabeth Alexander's American Blue, go to
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247304

SIMON ARMITAGE: Ten Pence Story (1991)

A film of Simon Armitage reading his poem 'Ten Pence Story' – back when he was the new kid in British poetry. This poem is from his first collection Zoom! (1989), still in print from his first publisher Bloodaxe. Made in 1991 when Simon was just 28, this film is from the Wordworks series of short poem films made by Tyne Tees Television with Bloodaxe Books, first shown in May-June 1992, produced by Mark Lavender and directed by Rob Cowley. For more details of Simon Armitage's Zoom!, go to
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852240784

BLOODAXE BOOKS IN 1985

This film profile of Bloodaxe Books was made in March 1985 when Jeni Couzyn's Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Women Poets was launched in Newcastle. Originally shown in the North-East on the Gallery arts slot, this excerpt features Bloodaxe's Neil Astley and Simon Thirsk looking dreadfully young as well as anthology editor Jeni Couzyn with Anne Stevenson, who reads two poems, 'The Mother' and 'This House'. Bloodaxe was then based on Newcastle's Quayside, and the film shows the prehistoric predigital book production methods of the time. The anthology went on to sell over 50,000 copies and became a school set text:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=0906427800
Anne Stevenson later took her work from Oxford University Press to Bloodaxe, in 2000, and Bloodaxe have published five of her books since 2000, including her Poems 1955-2005 which includes the two poems she reads on the film:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852246677

BASIL BUNTING reading from Briggflatts (1982)

This video features four short extracts of Basil Bunting reading from his long poem Briggflatts, from Peter Bell's 1982 film portrait of Bunting, included on a DVD issued with the new Bloodaxe edition of Briggflatts (which also has a CD of an audio recording Bunting made of the whole of Briggflatts in 1967). Peter Bell’s superb film Basil Bunting: An introduction to the work of a poet was made by Northeast Films and first shown on Channel Four in 1982. The first two extracts here follow the sequence used in the film, not that of the poem itself (the second extract is the opening of the poem: 'Brag, sweet tenor bull...'). Most of the film was shot around (and in) Brigflatts meeting house near Sedbergh, Cumbria, and at Greystead Cottage in Northumberland’s Tarset valley, where Bunting lived from 1981 to 1984. The film is from the Arts Council England film collection, and is copyright Arts Council of Great Britain 1982. For more information about the new Bloodaxe edition of Briggflatts (with free DVD and CD), see:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248262

DAVID CONSTANTINE: three poem films (1991)

Three very different film treatments of David Constantine reading three of his poems. These films were shot in 1991 around Newcastle and Durham, and the third one used the actual setting of Constantine's poem 'The Pitman's Garden'. These films are from the Wordworks series of short poem films made by Tyne Tees Television with Bloodaxe Books, first shown in May-June 1992, produced by Mark Lavender and directed by Rob Cowley. These three poems, 'As our bloods separate', 'Boy Finds Tramp Dead' and 'The Pitman's Garden', are all from his Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2004):
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852246677

MAHMOUD DARWISH (1942-2008)

Mahmoud Darwish was the poetic voice of the Palestinian people. One of the most acclaimed contemporary poets in the Arab world, he was also a prominent spokesman for human rights who spent most of his life in exile. Here he reads to a typically large audience in Jordan. Fady Joudah's translation of Darwish's later poetry, The Butterfly's Burden (2007), is published by Bloodaxe):
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247886

Tribute to MAHMOUD DARWISH (1942-2008)

Al Jazeera's tribute portrait of Mahmoud Darwish by Jacky Rowland. Fady Joudah's translation of Darwish's later poetry, The Butterfly's Burden (2007), is published by Bloodaxe):
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247886

DENISE LEVERTOV: six poems (1993)

Denise Levertov (1923-97) reads six poems from her later collections, three from Evening Train (1992) and three later included in her posthumously published collection Sands of the Well (1998). This is an extract from an hour-long reading she gave for the Lannan Foundation in Los Angeles on 7 December 1993 (and we thank the Lannan Foundation for their kind permission to post this video). The poems are: 'Settling', 'Open Secret', 'Tragic Error', 'The Danger Moment', 'A Gift' and 'For Those Whom the Gods Love Less', three of which were later included in her New Selected Poems from Bloodaxe:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852246537

RODDY LUMSDEN: Third Wish Wasted (2009)

Roddy Lumsden reads six poems from his latest Bloodaxe collection Third Wish Wasted at the book's launch event at StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, in St Andrews at the Byre Theatre on Saturday 21 March 2009. He reads and talks about these poems: 'Against Complaint', 'The Beautiful', 'Sammy's Noodle House & Grill', 'Tandem', 'Ludlow' and 'Quietus'. For more information about the book, see:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248289

ADRIAN MITCHELL: Tell Me Lies About Vietnam... (1965)

Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008) reading the original version of 'To Whom It May Concern (Tell me lies about Vietnam)' at the International Poetry Incarnation in the Royal Albert Hall in London on 11 June 1965. This footage is from Peter Whitehead's film Wholly Communion. He first read this poem at an anti-Vietnam War protest in Trafalgar Square in 1964, and kept changing the last verse. He included what he called his 21st century remix of the poem in his last collection, Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-2008. To see him reading that updated version - in 2007 - go to
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248432

ADRIAN MITCHELL: About the Child Murderer Marie Farrar (2008)

Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008) reading his version of Brecht's 'About the Child Murderer Marie Farrar' at the Marxism 2008 political festival in London on 5 July 2008. This poem is included in his new collection Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-2008:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248432

KEN SMITH: Eli's poem (1991)

Ken Smith reads his poem 'Eli's poem' in settings on the North-East coast (at Tynemouth and Cullercoats). This poem is from The Poet Reclining (Bloodaxe Books, 1982). Made in 1991, this film is from the Wordworks series of short poem films made by Tyne Tees Television with Bloodaxe Books, first shown in May-June 1992, produced by Mark Lavender and directed by Rob Cowley. Ken Smith (1938-2003) was the first poet to be published by Bloodaxe Books, in 1978. His poetry is available from Bloodaxe in three volumes:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=0906427517
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852245719
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852246707

KEN SMITH: The Secret Police (1999)

Ken Smith reads his poem 'The Secret Police' to an audience of thousands at the 9th Festival Internacional de Poesía in Medellín, Colombia. Ken Smith (1938-2003) was the first poet to be published by Bloodaxe Books, in 1978. This poem is from Shed: Poems 1980-2001 (Bloodaxe Books, 2002):
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852245719

Elizabeth Gilbert on the genius of RUTH STONE (2008)

An extract from Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk "A different way to think about genius" in which she describes meeting the poet Ruth Stone who described the way poems "came" to her. The full talk is on TED: http://www.ted.org/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. Ruth Stone's What Love Comes To: New & Selected Poems is published in the UK by Bloodaxe Books:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248416

R.S. THOMAS (1995)

This short portrait of R.S. Thomas was shown in December 1995 by BBC TV's Bookmark after he had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1996 (which went to Seamus Heaney). With commentary by Griff Rhys Jones and Denis Healey, it includes Thomas reading two poems, 'Children's Song' and 'The Other'. Filmed mainly on Anglesey, where Thomas lived in his retirement, the film features his former parishes of Aberdaron on Lleyn and Manafon in mid-Wales (with some archive footage from 1963). R.S. Thomas's Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 is published by Bloodaxe Books:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852246480

BRIAN TURNER reading from Here, Bullet (2005)

Iraq war veteran and US soldier-poet Brian Turner's harrowing and moving account of life on the front line in Iraq, Here, Bullet, is published by Bloodaxe Books in Britain. This video features him reading the book's title-poem. Brian Turner gave his first reading tour of Britain and Ireland in March and April 2008, coinciding with the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. For more details of Brian Turner's Here, Bullet, go to:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852247991

VOICE RECOGNITION: JAY BERNARD (2009)

Jay Bernard is one of 21 poets included in the new Bloodaxe anthology of young poets, Voice Recognition (ed. James Byrne & Clare Pollard, September 2009). Here she reads in the 'Roddy and the Pilots' event at StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, in St Andrews, on Friday 20 March 2009, featuring five poets who've published pamphlets with Tall-Lighthouse in their Pilot series edited by Roddy Lumsden. She reads 'Kid Moth', 'Lingerie', 'tongues in velvet' and 'And how will she smell?', which are all included in Your sign is cuckoo, girl (Tall-Lighthouse, 2008) or in Voice Recognition:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248386

VOICE RECOGNITION: EMILY BERRY (2009)

Emily Berry is one of 21 poets included in the new Bloodaxe anthology of young poets, Voice Recognition (ed. James Byrne & Clare Pollard, September 2009). Here she reads in the 'Roddy and the Pilots' event at StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, in St Andrews, on Friday 20 March 2009, featuring five poets who've published pamphlets with Tall-Lighthouse in their Pilot series edited by Roddy Lumsden. She reads 'The Descent', 'I Heart NY', 'A Londoner's Love Song', 'Everything She Does Is Not Her Own Fault' and 'A Short Guide to Corsetry', most of which are included in Stingray Fevers (Tall-Lighthouse, 2009) or in Voice Recognition:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248386

VOICE RECOGNITION: ADAM O'RIORDAN (2009)

Adam O'Riordan is one of 21 poets included in the new Bloodaxe anthology of young poets, Voice Recognition (ed. James Byrne & Clare Pollard, September 2009). Here he reads in the 'Roddy and the Pilots' event at StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, in St Andrews, on Friday 20 March 2009, featuring five poets who've published pamphlets with Tall-Lighthouse in their Pilot series edited by Roddy Lumsden. He reads 'Manchester' and 'NGC 3949' from Queen of the Cotton Cities (Tall-Lighthouse, 2007) and 'Candle Moulds' and 'Silver Lake' from a new pamphlet, Home (Wordsworth Trust, 2009), some of which are included in Voice Recognition:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852248386

Benjamin Zephaniah reads his poem 'Money' on the hoof in Newcastle city centre, back in 1991. Now even more topical, this poem is from his 1992 Bloodaxe collection City Psalms. The film is from the Wordworks series of short poem films made by Tyne Tees Television with Bloodaxe Books, first shown in May-June 1992, produced by Mark Lavender and directed by Rob Cowley. For more details of Benjamin Zephaniah's City Psalms, go to:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepage.asp?isbn=1852245549