Birling Wood

What with all the shenanigans with the woods and Forestry Commission sell off, my audio tree project has had to take a back seat for a bit. Good news is that the government forest give away sale has been called off (for the moment).

My project has evolved a bit in its scope: I am calling it Birling Wood. I have still yet to evolve a mic set up that doesn't require quite a bit of attendance. Also not sure if I can leave the equipment in the wood where I am working safely. It is quiet place apart from the section we are in the middle of felling. And my kit is not technically impressive stuff but that doesn't mean no one will be taking it.

However the act of checking has its own rewards, I almost ran into a fox the other day. A female it scarpered as soon as it saw me. We had been hidden from each other by a bend in the path. I had been looking at the start of the wild garlic cover. It already smells pungent. Then the cheerful face appeared. The same thing can happen with stoats. I once encountered a family of weasels crossing (probably their regular crossing, it is on my list to go and check this out by observation). Some big dogs had passed with their owner the other way and so my passage went unnoticed. Weasels are like a mini feather boa on a string; they move fast even on their own time. I had time to sense the younger ones playing.

So I need a mindset not dissimilar to Clym Yeobright to sit quietly and listen along with the mic, and I look forward to having it and to composing the words that will go along with the recorded sound. At the moment, I feel my lack of clothing, well the right clothing. It is hard to get things dry where I am living. My jacket has acquired that smell that rainproof material gets when it never drys out. But then you look at the leaf shards of green ramson and smell that oniony smell, the warm earth. It is not warm but something is moving in it.

It is all to look forward to.

Definition of a poetcast

I am not sure if there is even a consensus about the word poetcasting amongst poets, let's face it - there is rarely agreement about anything in the community. 

As an approach it is simply disseminating spoken poetry across the internet. 

And that can be achieved:

1.     with a mic and a computer, edit software not really necessary for simple spoken word (but yes, for more complex effects) or you can record on your phone

2.     check it especially if you are doing things low-tech! it may sound horrible, get rid of those puffing sounds when you are too close to the mic, make another mistake you never make, edit, repeat several times with different or similar errors until it is how you want it

3.     record (editors choose a bit rate of about 128 Kbps to give a sound quality roughly similar to the radio, fine for spoken word) and save in as .mp3 file and upload by FTP, through Facebook etc or email depending on your audience

4.     if you want to do it again and again, true podcasting, then you need to consider syndication via an RSS feed or get a friend or one of the groups listed below to do it

There are however other ideas and philosophies, some more divisive, lurking behind proponents and sites.  Poetcast or podcast, straight spoken word or interview, music, sound effects, outdoors or indoors or live at a gig, language and translation.

An interesting one to consider though is the perceived split between oral poetry and poets, performance poets, and those who like to be read in a book. (Is there anyone solely in the latter camp?). It seems to me that this division is an interpretation based on the marginalisation of poetry in the latter part of the 20th century: when sometimes the only way to get yourself read was to read/perform.

(Lucky enough those who live here in the Scottish Borders know the oral tradition thrives.)

A few resources:

·        http://www.poetcasting.co.uk/  Alex Pryce's site (possibly still funded by the Arts Council) providing access to a stellar range of contemporary British and Irish poetry online and out loud; and you can submit yourself as a potential poetcaster. Not forgetting the Joy of Six http://www.poetcasting.co.uk/?p=99

·        http://itunes.apple.com/cn/podcast/poem-podcast-from-poetry-translation/id392269965 The Poetry Translation Centre is dedicated to translating contemporary poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America.  Or get these through i-tunes for free, great stuff such as Kajal Ahmad's Pregnancy translated from the Kurdish by Mimi Khalvaty and Choman Hardi; more on Kajal Ahmad here http://www.poetrytranslation.org/poets/Kajal_Ahmad

·        http://blogs.dickinson.edu/latin-poetry-podcast/ Latin poetry podcast and reportage, cool stuff

·        http://poetrypodcasting.org/ The Association of Poetry Podcasting, grandly named, Members are expected to have regular poetry content in their podcast; have published a show within the last 2 months; have published at least 3 shows, Doesn't look promising on frontpage (the words latest press release 2006 spring out at  you) but forum is active in 2011.

·        http://www.readingroom.spl.org.uk/podcasts/  Last but not least, Scottish Poetry Library's lively heady mix, features  a "seductive selection of interviews, poems, snippets of events and music" and some great poets.