Series: Poetry Breaks
Program: Poetry Breaks I, Robert Bly
Episode: 334
Date: 1988-01-01
Duration: 00:00:35

Subject: Oral interpretation of poetry; Readings
People: Bly, Robert
Copyright Holder: Leita Hagemann Luchetti and WGBH Educational Foundation

Clip Description
Robert Bly reads his poem, "Loon's Cry," dedicated to Thoreau.

Program Description
Robert Bly was born in Madison, Minnesota, in 1926. He published his own poetry magazine, originally called The Fifties , through which he helped introduce the works of many lesser-known Latin American and European poets. He was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, founding the American Writers Against the Vietnam War with David Ray. Among his published works are Silence in the Snowy Fields (1962), The Light around the Body (1967), Loving a Woman in Two Worlds (1985), Iron John (1990), and Sibling Society (1996). Bly won the National Book Award in 1968 for The Light around the Body.

Bly introduces and reads his and others' poems at his Minnesota cabin on Moose Lake. The following poems were edited for broadcast and general distribution, and appear on the master tape with and without "Poetry Breaks" logo and copyright:

"At the Time of Peony Blossoming"
"Returning Poem"
"Winter Poem"
"Every Breath Taken"
"The Minnow Turning"
"The Moose"
"A Dream of Retarded Children"
"Loon's Cry"
"Dictator" (by Pablo Neruda)
"What Choice Do We Have to Go Down"

Multiple takes of these poems and the following appear on the source tapes of original footage:
"The Wind One Brilliant Day Called" (by Antonio Machado)
"My Father at Eighty-Five"
"Prayer for My Father"
"Driving My Parents Home at Christmas"
"Unanswered Letters"
"Driving Toward the Lac Qui Parle River"
"The Minty Grass"
"Man and Woman"
"Mourning Pablo Neruda"
"The Dead Seal"
"Snowbanks North of the House"
"President's Lies"
Bly plays an instrument during his readings of "At the Time of Peony Blossoming," "Returning Poem," "Winter Poem," "Every Breath Taken," and "The Minnow Turning."

Produced and directed by Leita Hagemann Luchetti.

"Poetry Breaks," conceived by Leita Hagemann Luchetti and co-produced by Luchetti and WGBH New Television Workshop, is an ongoing series of over 100 thirty-second to four-minute spots presenting internationally known poets reading their work on location. These have aired individually on WGBH and public television stations across the country. The Workshop collaborated with Luchetti until its closing in 1993, at which point the works became co-productions of Luchetti and the larger WGBH Foundation.

"Poetry Breaks II," produced from 1991-1994, began airing on WGBH-TV in 1994, and was also broadcast by dozens of other public television stations throughout the country starting in 1994. Between 1995 and 1997, three new poets were taped for Poetry Breaks III.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Poetry83.HTML