Comment on Tangled Garden

Since Tangled Garden, a triptych of earth poems, spans 30 years of poetry writing, and took 9 months to video, edit, subtitle, with more blood, sweat and tears than I like to recall, I continue to post comments, and responses to it. It is a major piece of work for me, and so far, if only one of my videopoems remains, I would like it to be this one.

Bent Lorentzen's comment, in a post where, mostly, I defended my videopoem, caused tears of gratitude. I shall not try to summarize his comment; rather, present here in full.

Bent LorentzenFeb 21, 2012 10:06 AM

Oh my, you take me to so many places with this, Brenda, literally and figuratively. And when you talk directly to The Great Mother Earth, well into the video, you even evoked a totally unexpected tear from me.

I've seen pieces of this as you shared them in the production. What a mesmerizing journey, into your soul, and the soul of us all. Brenda, this full-length product evokes all sorts of deep emotions, some primitively-emergent tribal, some divine, as if there is a difference. It's very rare that a video this long can hold the viewer so well, but you do it masterfully with an integrated visual and auditory tension, and gentle releases, that are never too much or little, but just right... a single ancient tree with many branches and deep roots, each with their specific nuances, integrated in layers out to the cosmos and deep into the primal. I can only imagine the time and deep patient work you've put into this.

And you invoke humor: "We are told quite succinctly, to stay away from dreams and poetry. Moreover, natural is unnatural... creepy and viney, you scare us, heavy and pendulous, not at all like a laurel tree..." - the metaphors are outstanding!

Oh, the layers in this, the colors, the shadows and light, I haven’t enough vocabulary to describe the sheer exquisiteness of experiencing this multimedia experience. If I were back in my college days, with a half Cherokee philosopher who guided a couple of acid trips, including one with Walt Disney's Fantasia, I would be beyond the beyond into a most wonderful trip from this film. But I am a well grounded shaman in my own right now, deep in the roots of the planet, and already in the cosmos of my highest most subtle heart, so your work, Brenda, is nothing short of, excuse the redundancy, a masterpiece.

It is worth anyone's time to feel, I mean really F-E-E-L to the core, every single dripping dewy, sunshine bright, moonlight shadowy, archetype-inducing moment of this video. And it holds and expresses so many subtle little clues which reflect back upon the viewer... so my advice to any potential viewer is don't take you eyes or attentions away from any of its unique moments, for you will gain insight from, again excuse the redundancy, you will gain insight from this holistic audio-visual presentation.

As you can see, Brenda, I can't praise it enough, and am lost for words.

So drink it up sober like me, to get drunk in the Rumi way, or drink it up in any other way, you will be not only entertained but wiser from the experience.

And what a spine-chilling powerful finale, and I won't even describe it. That's for other viewers to experience

Thank you, Brenda, for making this. I'm going to dream well tonight.

direct link: Tangled Garden