FiLmprov

POETRY

In 2004 FiLmprov added poetry to its growing roster of inventive, interactive variations on the combinations of film and improvisation.

The first program was presented at Dudley House at Harvard University with six musicians, three of whom, Peter H. Bloom, Craig Ellis, and Samuel J. Keyser, doubled as poets.  FiLmprov/POETRY 2008 again featured Peter Bloom and Jay Keyser with a new film by Kate Matson on a poem by Jocelyn Emerson. Richard Chrisman performed his poem to the film Egg at the Society for Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture in New York City and, with an additional work, at the Forum program in the Berkshires.

Peter H. Bloom (see Musicians page)

Peter Bloom's verse was published in Grolier Poetry Prize journal for 1984 and he has read work on the East and West Coasts.

Richard Chrisman

Richard Chrisman, a graduate of the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in Religion and Literature, has published articles on worship and composed original (jazz) liturgies, dramatic monologues, and poem-prayers as a campus minister (Princeton, Tufts) and as a parish minister (Old South Church in Boston and Central Congregational Church in Jamaica Plain, MA). He has taught the theology of modern literature and is presently the Interim Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Skidmore College.

Craig Ellis 

Craig Ellis (1946-2006) published widely in little magazines and poetry journals, including Aspect, Assembling, Gallimaufry, Intrepid, Nostoc, and Wormwood Review. Sparrow in the Supermarket (a Chapbook) was published by Beehive Press. As a publisher, under two imprints (AUGTWOFIVE, with the late Rolla Rieder, and Dancing Bear Productions) he put out work by Douglas Blazek, Robert Creeley, Larry Eigner, Theodore Enslin, James Schevill, Hershel Silverman, Jack Spicer, Jonathan Williams, et. al.  As a musician, he worked with many ensembles, soloists, choreographers, poets, circus and puppet theatre groups including Black Swan, Bern Porter, and the Lynn Dally Dance Company. He was a percussionist with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra for three decades and a recipient of a grant from Meet the Composer.

Jocelyn Emerson 

Jocelyn Emerson is the author of Sea Gate (2002) and Confirmations of the Rapt (2002). She has received the New York/New England Award from Alice James Books and the 2008 Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, among other honors. Her current manuscript projects are Ashen Light (poetry) and Loves Limbecke: Essays on Medicine and Poetry. Her work has been anthologized in The Iowa Anthology of New American Poetries, and her poems, reviews, and criticism have appeared widely in journals such as American Book Review, American Letters & Commentary, Denver Quarterly, Electronic Poetry Review, and New American Writing.

Samuel Jay Keyser