Flexigesis

The original poster from 2008

One of the forms of writing that has always fascinated me has been the long form where poetry meets playwriting. It probably comes from my long time love for Irish Theatre of J.M. Synge and Lady Gregory

If you go back to the Classical roots you will find poetry and drama intertwined. In Western Theatre, following the Jacobeans and the Classical revival', a number of poets including P.B. Shelley tried to recreate the idea. Shelley’s ‘The Cenci’ was praised by Mary Shelley “[u]niversal approbation soon stamped The Cenci as the best tragedy of modern times." But she may have been slightly prejudiced towards her husband as the play never had a serious production until Antonin Artaud tried his luck in 1935 and that production closed after only 17 performances. T.S. Eliot tried to revive the poetic drama form with such plays as ‘The Family Reunion’ and ‘The Cocktail Party’ in the forties and fifties while other writers such as Eugene O’Neill followed the example of August Strindberg with more success.

But while dramas have espoused the long poetic form, the poetry world has tended to favour exploring ideas in a more condensed formats There are notable exceptions: In the twenties and thirties the British poet Basil Bunting developed a long form of spoken word poetry that becomes a form of meditation and much the same can be said of Alan Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ (although he denied it was a performance piece, it became one by default) . Latterly the voice of Mike Skinner and The Streets has embraced Long Form. But generally poetry has become condensed and shorter while the rhythmic voice of drama has been swallowed up by the Musical.

In most of my writing I sometimes find it difficult to say whether I am writing poetical plays or dramatic poems. In both cases I am trying to reach an audience through direct emotional contact. Fifteen years ago I developed a long form poem in five parts called Flexigesis. I worked with the genius soundscape creator Si Williams and we did a couple of live performances in which we invited audiences to lie on the floor in the complete darkness of an art gallery where we produced the most extraordinary emotional effects. Luckily we did manage to record it on cd (Copies still available for anyone who has a cd player).

Here is part 1. If you want somewhere near the full effect: lie down on the floor and turn the lights out. It may make you cry.

Peter John Cooper

Poet, Playwright and Podcaster from Bournemouth, UK.

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