splake: poetry on location - DVD
t.k. splake
Angst Productions
P.O. Box 508
Calumet, Michigan 49913
Price - $20

"Part of being a creative person is getting the clutter and debris out of
your mind so you can open your eyes and see."

t.k. splake
While the life history of Thomas Hugh Smith is anything but a secret, his transformation into poet t. kilgore splake serves as a lesson in both the art of creation as well as the ability to train oneself in terms of putting forth the fruits of such in a definable and unique medium. A former college professor, splake stood fast for years unable to find his comfort zone in the "same old, same old" that tends to be the residence of the status quo. Why he bailed out as such is certainly no mystery. Most of us consider the same exit from time to time, maybe even summoning a temporary courage prior to the final surrender. splake did with his life what others wouldn't or couldn't do and the same can be said of his art.

In "Poetry on Location," we are given a unique glimpse of an artist who has worked both his life and his craft in order to reach a pinnacle. For years splake labored to hone his line and his style until he reached the point in which he felt he had "earned the beret" and was willing to call himself a poet. In this 50+ minute DVD, we see both the fruits of his commitment as well as the various haunts that motivate him every "bard diem."

His description of his Munising period is reminiscent of the brief exile experienced by the late jazz innovator, Thelonious Monk after the pianist lost his cabaret card. One can envision splake thinking, writing, and ever tweaking his lines in an attempt to find the voice that would be his and his alone. At the conclusion of this "study," he was embraced by the small press and the affection continues to this day.

Throughout the film, we are privy to the regular treks undertaken by the author, all emanating from his loft above the Omphale Art Gallery in his adopted hometown of Calumet, Michigan. Even for those who are not readers of poetry, the stunning beauty of the falls and the bare realities of the various abandoned mines and buildings, makes this work a visual tour-de-force of life in the Upper Penisula.

Proper homage is meted to his bardic influences in scenes that involve Jack Kerouac and Richard Brautigan. The reference to the latter brings to mind a review of his famed novel, TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA that was written by famed West Coast poet, Lew Welch, and published in the "San Francisco Chronicle" in 1969.

"Perhaps, when we are very old, people will write "Brautigans" just as we now write novels. Let us hope so. For this man has invented a genre, a whole new shot, a thing needed, delightful, and right."

In paraphrase, I would contend that maybe one day people will write "splakes" just as they now write poems and I, for one, certainly hope so.

From the Provinces,

Carter Monroe