“A marvelous thing happens as we watch a person give a great recitation: their own face becomes even more a threshold of meaning, and their personality becomes infused and in communion with the universe of the poem; the person and the poem are there physically transfiguring and revealing each other, as well as the space they are in”
︎Nick Maione, founding editor: full interview
Windfall Room is a poetry publication & archive presenting high-quality video recitations.
We love all manner of poems. The most common way to experience a poem, even on digital platforms, is through the written word. Far less common by comparison, but no less wonderful, is to experience a poem well-recited by a human. We wish to be a place for recited poems.
Each issue Windfall Room publishes a poet reciting from memory one of their own works in a high-quality audio/video format. There is no accompanying text version of the poem.
Click the ︎ in each issue to read more about the poem and author.
SUBMISSIONS
Open! To any/all kinds of faces, places and poems in 2023 & beyond. Please see past work on Windfall Room for examples of what we are looking for.
GUIDELINES:
We aim to publish recitations that combine these three main elements to create a finished piece greater than the sum of its parts:
1) Excellent poem
The poet memorizes a poem of their own that they feel would be excellent for this project. It is okay for the poem to have been published elsewhere.
2) Recited well on location
The recitation should be from memory only and practiced so the poet's face, delivery, and words are featured; the expression of the poem in the person and place is what is important, not camerawork or editing. The shot should be one take. Please do multiple takes however and send the best one without mistakes.
Place is always important. In these finished pieces, place/space becomes an integral part of the poem and recitation, whether treated with intention or not. Consider this. Resist the temptation to default to sitting your desk. Resist the Zoom aesthetic.
3) Recorded well
We are looking for high quality media. All video must be shot in landscape/horizontal format. No filters or any effects. We highly recommend having a second person to record, hold the camera, and direct, thereby leaving the poet free to simply give the poem in the best way. Again, avoid at all costs the Zoom-meeting context, though a well done selfie in the right setting (on a walk carrying your child, for example) has worked in the past.
Note: audio quality is often the most difficult and the first thing to suffer. When recording using a smartphone is the video is usually fine but the audio quality poor. An external mic, a mic attachment, second hidden phone recording just audio, or some other audio equipment solution leads to the best results. We can help sync audio/video.
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We are looking forward to seeing/hearing your poems. Please submit your finished recitation to the contact email below with SUBMISSION as the subject. In the body of the email please include:
- A download of your recitation via dropbox, google drive, WeTransfer, or any such thing; do not post your submission to Youtube and share us a link
- Your name & title of poem exactly how you want them to appear
- Location where recitation was shot, both geographically (city/state) and local surroundings (i.e. my sister's garden)
- A few sentences about the poem and meaningful location; see past issues for examples
- A brief bio
- Social media accounts for sharing
- Name for film credit
MASTHEAD
Nick Maione | Editor, Founder
Zach Savich | Editor
Jordan Stempleman | Editor
Dora Malech | Contributing Editor
Lindsey Webb | Contributing Editor
CONTACT / SOCIALS
︎ windfallroom [at] gmail [dot] com
︎ @windfall_room
︎ Windfall Room
︎ Windfall Room
︎@windfall_room
IN THE COMMUNITY
Tupelo Quarterly: A New Relationship of Presence
// interview with our founding editor Nick Maione conducted by Zach Savich