A few years ago, my son Joe and I collaborated on a video poem, something I had not tried before. I had recorded poems with music soundtracks for radio at WUML-FM at UMass Lowell a long time ago when the station had a regular feature of short poems by local writers that ran between music shows. Off and on I wondered about poetry as an alternative to music videos. I recall seeing something like that on a PBS poetry program, “Anyone for Tennyson?,” which did not last long. My son had been making short films for a few years, so we decided to try something. We made two. This is the first one, which is on YouTube.com.
In the poem I’m remembering the countless hours I spent playing with toy soldiers, spacemen, horses, and trucks. Years ago, I heard novelist John Irving in a TV interview talking about his experience playing with toy soldiers and his sister’s dollhouse, making up stories to act out on the floor. He said it was his beginning as a writer.
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