Click here to view “Faith” by Robert Kendall.
In the beginning was the Word…
And for Robert Kendall’s new media poem, that word was: Faith. Scripted like the ornate letters of a Gutenberg-like bible, the first word sits securely high on the first screen of his poem in motion.
But out of the sky – presumably from a heaven above – the words “logic” fall down past “Faith” and take up a place hovering below “Faith”. The yellow words “logic can’t bend this” appear on the screen. “Bend” what an interesting choice of a verb. The logic doesn’t sway, or sweep away, and it cannot bend, like a mind-bender, but neither is it a bind-mender for the poet. In the next screen the bend becomes a corner, a mile-post to pass in order to achieve a holy consummation, a vision not from above, but from below, in the depths.
Then in the 3rd installment of 5 frames, burgundy red words flicker and wink a “neon logic.” Why neon? The contrast to the preserved ink of a 500 year-old bible is fascinating.
And then, what is the “sunny side” of his mind? Is it like the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan singing that he’ll “stay right here on the sunny side of the street”? Why won’t Kendall press the black button? One can only connect a black button to something sinister and destructive. Who would black out the sun if they could?
The 4th installment: LEAP. Kendall leaps. Leap of faith. He “simply” strides out of his mind – his logic – and then leaves “One True Word.” Is it LEAP? The LEAP word flies dangerously at the viewer, taking up the whole screen and moving towards them. It doesn’t disappear into a chasm, unless the chasm is the viewer’s mind. Instead, it approaches like a fighter plane and engages the viewer face-on before disappearing.
In the end, all the words of the poem fall to the bottom and what remains? Only the pieces: “Just to sum up.” Even “Faith” falls from its height into the pile with the rest. Just a summary of experience, nothing else. Only the words are left…Sola scriptura.