Projected Verse

Last night People's Co-op Bookstore hosted another in Louis Cabri and Rob Manery's long-running, nation-crossing Projector Verse series.

Matea Kulić projected Aja Moore's “I Want to Text You About Robert Duncan” from Hotwheel (Montreal: Metatron Press, 2018); Jeremy Stewart projected W.G. Sebald's “Like a dog” and “At the edge” (Michael Hamburger, trans.) from Unrecounted (New York: New Directions, 2007); and Peter Quartermain projected Walt Whitman's “Poem of the Propositions of Nakedness,” from Leaves of Grass (self-published, 1856 edition).

People give readings, after which the audience is sometimes invited to respond. With Projected Verse, the text is projected by its selector, who reads the piece then afterward leads a discussion. Here, the spoken remains present, not as an echo but as an image (too). Great insights shared on Aja, Sebald and Whitman's poems, with Aja in attendance.

The picture up top is of Peter reading from the paper page. Shining a light onto that page is Louis. The copy that is projected onto the bed sheet is from a piece of acetate. Print, projection, digital lighting, linens -- it's all there. And so were we!