Hosting a dinner party with literary geniuses as guests sounds like a dream come true… discovering that they’re all getting killed off one by one is more of a nightmare, but exactly the case for Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party. This YouTube series, created by Shipwrecked, started as a Kickstarter project back in February 2016, and its season finale aired on Halloween. So you can venture a guess as to what I was doing on All Hallow’s Eve…

(source)

The Persaud siblings started their characterizations as Edgar Allen Poe (Sean Persaud) and Lenore the Lady Ghost (Sinead Persaud) in their series A Tell-Tale Vlog. Somehow, despite Poe’s severe social awkwardness, he has managed to invite authors such as Ernest Hemingway (Joey Richter), Oscar Wilde (Tom DeTrinis), Charlotte Brontë (Ashley Clements), and… Emma Dickens (Sarah Grace Hart) or whoever. Of course, a murder mystery party wouldn’t be complete without Constables Jim and Jimmy (Jim O’Heir of Parks and Recreation, and Jimmy Wong) checking in on the mayhem.

This web series has got to be one of the dweebiest, most wonderful concepts I’ve encountered in my life. Literature typically is limited to the page, but seeing appreciation for literary artists on the screen is almost too much to bear. It’s hard to imagine, at times, that there are other people out there who are equally obsessed with books and authors and poetry. This series is a sort of fan-fiction of the authors, imagining how writers and poets would have interacted with their contemporaries. It’s like Midnight in Paris, except it’s actually good.

The episodes are chocked full with literary references, terrible puns (my favorite), boisterous comedy, and drama. While watching the series with friends, we definitely were kept in suspense ‘til the very end, unsure if new characters would make appearances, or if deceased characters were truly dead. If I had to pick a favorite, I would say that the rugged alcoholic Hemingway would be it (that’s probably the first and only time I will compliment Hemingway). 

The location is extravagant and absolutely perfect. The costumes and hair are beautiful period pieces. The color edit to the film gives it an eerie candlelit ambiance. The music is a subtle but strong foundation to the story. The actors are obviously dedicated to their roles, and I can barely imagine them outside of character.

After watching Mary Kate Wiles’s (Annabel Lee) behind-the-scenes video in which she vlogs about the YouTube series, it’s easy to forget that this was an indie production. The budget was only $72,141, and when taking into account all of the actors, the location, the crew, and many other fine details, this is an amazing feat.  As someone who works with an out-of-my-own-pocket budget for my own films, who works with actors around their college class schedules, I’m in awe of how dedicatedly this production worked towards their passion project.

I really do feel like this web series is a staple for the online literary community – as big as the first person who decided that they were going to vlog about books they recently read. The series deserves so much more love and support than what it currently has. My hope is that you’ll watch the first episode and follow the series through to the end, appreciating the representations of our beloved eighteen hundreds artists and the production team who created them.

Watch the first episode:

Read more of Cam's work on Floodmark.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honor of this unofficial holiday, the Editors here at Floodmark read their favorite romantic poetry as part of our At the Heart Reading Series.

Why did we create this project, you might ask? For a few reasons. First, it was fun. Reading aloud is something we all find interesting. Second, you can gain a lot by reading a poem aloud. It's the best way to get to know any piece of writing. I find reading romantic poetry especially interesting,  because it makes me think about my love life, past and present. It's a wonderful reflective experience. Third, we wanted to get you, our readers, in the mood for romance. Have a special someone? Share one of these poems with them for instant brownie points. We already did all the hard work for you by finding them and reading them. All you have to do is hit "Share" and get onto Facebook to keep these romantic vibes rolling.

You can find this reading series in two places. First, our Soundcloud:

Or, if Youtube vids are more your style, you can check those out here:

Have a happy V-Day, and may these poems help guide you on your romantic exploits!

Welcome back to our six-second poetry series! Today I whipped up a little something-something featuring the third line from Sylvia Plath's "Mad Girl's Love Song". Click here to read the full poem if you find yourself intrigued. It's a good one, promise.

Check back soon for more Six-Second Poetry! In the meantime, you can follow us on Vine for exclusives + other fun things. Just click on the little green "V" up there in our social media bar. AND, if you're still a-thristin' for some more bite-sized poetry, you can check out the complete series by clicking here.

You know what's always entertaining? Dramatic readings.

I highly advise you do a couple of things with this video:

1. Do not watch it somewhere you're supposed to be quiet. (i.e., WORK)
2. If you can follow along, read the words. They're painfully hysterical and you'll understand why his pronunciation is bananas. 
3. Feel free to laugh your hiney off, because no matter how many times I watch it, when I hit "you make me touch your hands for stupid reasons",  I completely lose my shit.

via http://youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons.ytmnd.com

I'll bet you're thinking, "How could these people ever turn this video into a prompt?!"

Alternatively, you could be thinking about how your faith in humanity was lost somewhere around the first "bastert". 

Either way, here's your prompt:

Give your own dramatic reading. 

It's as simple as that. All joking aside, this video is a great example of how punctuation (yes, I can turn this into a learning experience) is super duper important. For example, LACK OF punctuation (aka 100 run on sentences) can make your poem sound like you're purposefully trying to starve your lungs of air. Too much punctuation makes you sound like a squirrel on PCP really banging that nut against a rock. So, let's all find happy mediums unless we're going for dramatic effect --- which is totally cool, just make sure you're being strategic.

The best way to find all that out? Listen to yourself read your work out loud. I do it all the time, and I am 100% sure I'm not the only one. Hearing it can completely change the meaning, and it helps you get a really good grasp on line breaks, rhyming, rhythm, and punctuation functionality. 

Or you could just go back and listen to this video one more time. No shame.

Welcome back to the six-second poetry series here at Floodmark! Today's Vine features your very own editor's handwriting annnnnd the words of one Rainer Maria Rilke. You might have heard of him? Sort of memorable. 

Check back soon for more Six-Second Poetry! In the meantime, you can follow us on Vine for exclusives + other fun things. Just click on the little green "V" up there in our social media bar. AND, if you're still a-thristin' for some more bite-sized poetry, you can check out the complete series by clicking here.

Good people of Floodmark! Welcome back to the Six-Second Poetry series! Once again, we have some more footage from our little trip to Chicago. (Do you remember us talking about it? You can find the full post by clicking here. It's a treat.) This time, we feature some of the most famous lines in poetry, written by none other than T.S. Eliot himself. If you have never read "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" before (!?!?!?!), you can click here to read this marvelous poem in its entirety. It's truly glorious.  

As always, follow us on Vine by clicking the little "V" in our social media bar! You'll find all sorts of fun stuff on our Vine account as we explore visual and auditory poetry with these mini projects. I promise one day soon we'll exhaust our seemingly endless supply of Chicago footage and bring you something with no snow in the background. Our next adventure is set and we can't wait to share it with you guys!

In the meantime, enjoy six seconds of Prufrock:

Thanks for following along! Tune in next time for another installment of Six-Second Poetry! You can find all our installments by clicking here.

Good morning, Floodmark folk!

Welcome to this installment of the Six-Second Poetry series! We're baaaaaaack! And we have some more footage from our little trip to Chicago. Once again, we're in front of the gorgeous Marc Chagall mosaic mural called "The Four Seasons". This time, we feature the last lines of James Wright's poem "A Blessing". For the record, I'm totally obsessed with this incredible conclusion. Can you dig it? Follow us on Vine by clicking the little "V" in our social media bar! You'll find all sorts of fun stuff on our Vine account as we explore visual and auditory poetry with these mini projects.

Thanks for following along! Tune in next time for another installment of Six-Second Poetry! You can find all our installments by clicking here.

Welcome to this installment of the Six-Second Poetry series! Today we have the last lines of Jeffery McDaniel's poem "The Archipelago of Kisses". We took this video footage in front of Marc Chagall's mosaic mural, "The Four Seasons" in Chicago. Like it? Follow us on Vine by clicking the little "V" in our social media bar! Sorry about the shakiness! It's called the Windy City for a reason. (Well, actually, not that reason, but it's pretty damn windy.)

Want to see all of our Six-Second Poetry series? Click here. Want to see a quote featured? Click the little envelope on our social media bar and hit "send". Happy National Poetry Month!

Floodmark's Six-Second Poetry series continues! You can find all the posts by clicking on our "Six-Second Poetry" tag (located to the right), or by checking out our Vine (the little green "v" on our social media/"what's new" bar). Today we're happy to present the very influential and glorious last lines of Lord Alfred Tennyon's last lines of "Ulysses". Enjoy! Share if you can dig it.

If you'd like to see a poem featured on Floodmark's Six-Second Poetry series, or if you're interested in reading for us, feel free to shoot us an email (floodmark.editorial@gmail.com) or leave a comment on this post.

Hello, my friends! The Six-Second Poetry series returns this week with a well-timed video. Considering that Chicago (where us editors are based) has only just had a record-breaking snowfall (19.3 inches, people. NINETEEN POINT THREE INCHES.), it only seemed appropriate that this week's video feature one of my favorite winter quotes from e.e. cummings:

the snow doesn't give a soft white damn Whom it touches. 

Which just about sums it up: snow is this beautiful, ethereal, floating stuff---and it also doesn't give two shits if it happens to fall at such a rate that your rush-hour commute takes 2 1/2 hours. (No really, my commute was 2 1/2 hours BOTH ways on Tuesday.)

In short, there is a reason we were all enamored of it while we were children: because we also didn't give a soft white damn, before we became something resembling adults and forgot what a miracle it seems to live in a world where, for four months, little pieces of frost spontaneously float down from the sky to land amid your hair, on your tongue, and in a halo around your face.

You can follow us on Vine by clicking the green little "V" in our social media bar at the top of the page. If you don't have a Vine, but want to see all our videos, just click the "Six-Second Poetry" tag on the right or find the series under our "Video" category. 

As always, it's been a pleasure. Stay tuned for the next installment of Floodmark's Six-Second Poetry Series!

A quick note on some credit info: the music for this video is a short clip from a piece called "Etude 2 for Piano" by Philip Glass. It's played by Bruce Brubaker. The GIF in the background is found on Tumblr.com---as far as I can tell, there are multiple sources.

It's that time again! The Six-Second Poetry series returns this week with a reading of Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro"; the ultimate short 'n sweet poem. The background video is a waterfall in slow-motion I took on a winter hike. You like? Two-seconds prior to that video I discovered that slow-motion was an option on my new phone. As you might have guessed....I now have like 15 videos of slow motion things. It's a new obsession. Prepare to be slow-mo'd, Floodmark. 

If you're digging what we're doing here, follow us on Vine so you don't miss a second of our mini-readings! Click the little green "V" in the top right corner of our page to see our profile. You can also click the video below.

If you don't have a Vine, but want to see all our videos, we got yo back. Just click the "Six-Second Poetry" tag on the right or find the series under our "Video" category.

HAHA. But in the nice way, obviously.

Have a poem you love that you'd like to see on Vine? Comment on this post or shoot us an email telling us which one; we're always looking for new material to read.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Six-Second Poetry Series!

We've got some super-fancy, super-quick six-second poetry for ya'll today! Like it? Want more of it? Click our social media button (the green "V" at the top of the page), and follow us, like us, and whatever else folks do these days to spread the word. Stay tuned for next week's Six-Second Poetry!



If you'd like to see a poem featured on Floodmark's Six-Second Poetry series, or if you're interested in reading for us, feel free to shoot us an email (floodmark.editorial@gmail.com) or leave a comment on this post.

SO, here I am, serenading you with the words of James Wright. You're a lucky person, friend. ;)





If you're into Vine, click our social media button (the one that's a green "V") and follow us, like us, and do whatever else you crazy kids do with that sort of information. Installments of Six-Second Poetry will be coming at you weekly, and since there's only six whole seconds every seven days, I'm sure you don't want to miss a thing.

Until next week...this is Alli, over and out.