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Allbook Books has expanded its parameters by leaping off the printed page and is excited to announce its first DVD-Video, One Man's Mythology: a poetic contemplative journey. Written and performed by Mankh (Walter E. Harris III), this series of ten poems is connected by a mythic thread of imagination, whimsy, and philosophical ponderings. One Man's Mythology is a dramatized poetry reading with a Cinéma vérité style, conveying the feel of being in the woods or hanging out at a park bench. The DVD runs approx 29 minutes.
Videography and editing by Michael Mart, well-known among the community of poets for his website www.poetryvlog.com.
“Wow! I loved it! I love how the "one man" accesses a plurality of common need to explain, to know, to feel a sense of meaning and awe at the arcane mysteries of self and existence. I love the ironic interconnections and contradictions of personal myths, the sense of paradoxical questions and stances toward existence which defy reason, reminding me of the Japanese koan, the mysterious that can't be answered by reason. I love the different levels of language, from banal to philosophic; the smallness and allness of each little human hero of ordinary existence; the non-judgmental, democratic tone with calm restraint and delicate humor, a little Charlie-Chaplinesque; the wonderfully symbolic hat; the natural setting with a personable and giant tree as backdrop suggesting the power of nature and the petiteness of man; the atonal music; the Buddhist implications; the ending's emphasis on the human need for loving affiliation.”
- Gayl Teller, Nassau County Poet Laureate - www.gaylteller.com
The video was done on location outside the Mills Pond House, home of the Smithtown Township Arts Council in St. James, NY www.stacarts.org. The wondrous Copper Beech tree, only one of a handful remaining on Long Island, serves as the focal point.
After the dramatized reading of each poem, the viewer can read the text on screen while listening to a lush soundscape of contemplative and uplifting music by Anna Schaad, a wonderful violinst and composer, www.annaschaad.com. The DVD also features the ethereal sounds of a Tibetan singing bowl, plus the calls and songs of some feathered-friends.
Whether man, woman, human, four-legged, finned, winged, crawler, rock, mineral, vegetable, fruit, plant, flower, tree . . .
each being has a small story that is part of the collective whole.
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Unfold your myth . . .
- Rumi
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Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.
- Joseph Campbell
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ONE MAN’S MYTHOLOGY
One man puts out an empty bucket
to catch the rain
believing there’s a crack
in the floor of heaven
and he wants the finest water
for making tea.
One man gathers mud by the handful
believing he was molded of clay
and he too wants the finest
for patching his walls.
One man opens his door
to the bright blue dawn, and smiles,
and thinks:
this is heaven enough!
but he keeps a bucket handy anyway,
and his immense hands
are two of his finest companions.
- Mankh
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to order
website © 2010 Walter E. Harris III
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