Dancing over a rabbit warren in the roots of a green ash that was infected by the emerald borer and was cut down years ago, I wove my way up and stood on uneven ground with rabbit holes in it. Intermixed were plastic ivy leaves that a neighbour had left when she moved out. I grabbed a mat of leaves and a rhythm appeared where, later, looking at the clip, I seemed to be wrestling with a serpent of leaves flying all about me. I find it hilarious and love this video!
It'll be part of a videopoem, 'unfurlflowerring,' for which I have collected images and clips over years, and that I hope to edit this year. I cultivated my postage stamp of a patio for this project for two years so that it is overgrown and verdant - so perfect!
Some photos from the video cameras yesterday for a videopoem called ‘unfurlflowerrings.' My favourite is the multiple exposure - a technique I am playing with.
I’ve planned this shoot for years (since 2022, when I created and performed it at Minstrels & Bards), and now it’s done! Since I can’t afford to hire anyone, I asked a few people for help without response. And then Steve O'Brien came and helped set it up, held a camera, and while I made sure to include him in the shoot, I couldn’t be more grateful for friends like him.
In all, with set up of a few cameras, a ton of foliage to cover the rabbit warren in my patio space, the box I came out of (that I spray painted over a year ago), a pizza dinner break, videoing, packing it all away and raking all fake leaves so the rabbits have their home intact, it took 5 hours.
With the gift of help from a friend, I couldn’t push it and have a rehearsal, but it was planned down to the details, no real choreography only impromptu movement, and I think it worked out. One of those blessings in life.
UnfurlFlowerrings by Brenda Clews - earliest version Live
I performed this poem, unfurflowerrings, at my Minstrels & Bards poetry & music event. It's a poem about Spring goddesses and an aging woman in a corset with corsages blooming from her breast, ivy draped over her arms.
A mask comes in a vision and I try to realize it, and then spend months, a year, composing a costume around it. And leave writing a poem to the last minute, which, yes, I did as the deadline approached. I wrote the poem on the Sunday, edited and memorized it on Monday and performed it on Tuesday. Some poets I highly respect were there and I was nervous presenting it in this whole get-up! This is the earliest version of the poem, it was later added to and edited, and I think I'll keep the bones of the poem but take it in a different direction for the final version later this year or next year now that I've shot the footage outdoors I had hoped for.
I wove the mask to read a Hopkins sprung rhyme poem at Dead Poets Society in December 2019. It became the focal point for a costume as Spring wove its way into my imagination. I do a ton of research when I am composing a costume around a concept. The flowers were partially inspired by Schiaparelli and the corset and transparent hoop skirt by Dior.
Mask, costume, poem, performance and editing by Brenda Clews. It's been unlisted, and I am finally publishing it publicly in 2026.
