By Melanie La Rosa
She remains the most famous women poet of the Beat Generation; her friend Allen Ginsberg calling her "heroic in life and poetics". THE POETRY DEAL: A FILM WITH DIANE DI PRIMA is an impressionistic documentary about legendary poet Diane di Prima. The most well known female writer of the Beat Era, di Prima is fierce, funny, and philosophical, still actively writing in her late 70s in San Francisco, where she is poet laureate. She is a pioneer who broke boundaries of class and gender to publish her writing, and THE POETRY DEAL opens a window looking back through more than 50 years of poetry, activism, and cultural change, providing a unique women's perspective of the Beat movement. Much of the story is told through di Prima's recorded readings, including a deeply moving reading of her unpublished poem The Poetry Deal, reflecting on her relationship with her art. THE POETRY DEAL puts di Prima's life and work on screen in a unique, beautiful portrait using rare archival material, impressionistic scenes shot in Super8 and 16mm, stories told by friends and colleagues¡ªand di Prima's powerful writing.
Reviews
~ "The film is a visual poem -- a great way to experience DiPrima direct." - Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, Endangered Language Alliance Visiting Professor of Writing
~ "[V]isually powerful and provocative, and a tribute to this unique poet's transformative alchemy as thinker, visionary, and trail-blazer. I highly recommend this documentary to literary scholars, students, writers and anyone interested in the culture of these complicated times." - Anne Waldman, Poet, Co-founder, Distinguished Prof, Jack Kerouac School, Naropa Univ.
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