In all great philosophical traditions, the supreme teacher is the one who remains silent.
So to this website-of-expression I give an unquiet name, The Siren's Clef, a nod to Homer who, in presenting the sirens, warned against the promise of taking such means of expression as anything more than transient phenomenon!
WritingWriting has been a central part of my life since early childhood, when I adopted the challenge of producing a new story daily on the way home from nursery school, and it is an interest that has held firm ever since. Today I am actively involved in screenwriting (for which I received one of my two college degrees), fiction, and poetry. While most of these endeavors are approached as a hobby, constant encouragement has led me further toward pursuit of publication in recent years.
This page is divided into three sections, for screenwriting, fiction, and poetry, and summarizes some of the recent projects that I have been working on or have recently completed. Further enquiries are welcome, using the contact link. The self-published Mythopoeia is available for purchase in the poetry section.
***
The following screenplays have been completed recently, or are currently in development.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the best-selling novel of its time by French author Pierre Louÿs, Aphrodite is a tragedy set in ancient Alexandria, in a society bewitched by the sacred courtesan. When Demetrios, royal sculptor and lover to the Queen, becomes enchanted by the courtesan Chrysis at the onset of festivities dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, she presents him with a challenge: Demetrios must perform three crimes in order to satisfy her desires and thereby win her favor. What follows is a tale of seduction, sacrifice, and murder, set in an age of turbulent passions.
STATUS: Aphrodite was recently completed and is undergoing the revisioning process.
SYNOPSIS: When Laura Russo is placed in a nursing home she fears her fate is to eventually pass away, imprisoned and forgotten about. That is, until she meets Emily Dean, a wildly eccentric resident with a small group of loyal followers. Together they form an inseparable bond of friendship and a plan to embark on a mysterious escape mission. A series of bizarre and comedic adventures are the result; preparation for a journey "Home" which prove that it's not the trained medical staff who hold the key to coping with an inevitably destructive disease. Instead, it is this small group of determined free spirits.
(Harold and Maude meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest)
STATUS: Preparation is currently being pitched as a feature film.
SYNOPSIS: Clad in her red riding hood, nine year-old Mira goes on a trip to Grandmother's house for three days. However, used as the pawn in an ongoing battle between mother and grandmother, Mira suffers a destructive family curse. Generation after generation of emotional abuse is handed down from mothers to daughters. Taking solace in her Grandmother's topiary garden, Mira's animal friends reveal the source of her own growing family contempt. Retreating into a world of fairy tales, the life of a child whose imagination is delightfully overactive faces off against an ageless and unending family secret. Unfortunately, the victors aren't always victorious, to possess all that you want often neglects what you need, and childhood was never meant to serve as a battlefield.
(Ordinary People meets Heavenly Creatures)
STATUS: Animal Hedges was entered in the Oscars' Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, and finished at the top 5% mark.
***
I have worked on fiction on and off as a hobby for many years, particularly drawing upon the significant exposure I had to surrealism in my youth in combination with the philosophical endeavors that developed later. The following are recently undertaken fiction projects.
SYNOPSIS: Little Avanna, like all children her age, starts to wonder: "Who am I?" After witnessing her mad Uncle Leo disappear into a mysterious labyrinth constructed on the grounds of his estate, Avanna wanders in after him on an adventure that quickly grows from a search for her missing uncle to a hunt for her own true identity. A conceptual maze infused with the spirit of such authors as L. Frank Baum (The Wizard of Oz) and Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland), Adventures in Ego twists one's notions of the self and unravels the mysteries which have confronted philosophers throughout the history of mankind. This journey into nonduality and metaphysics is woven into a comedic romp where world mythologies and cosmic riddles reign supreme.
STATUS: Adventures in Ego has been completed and is being edited.
SYNOPSIS: Completed in less than fourty-two days this novel/prose poem (co-written with photographer and author Gordon Arkenberg) is the largest-scale exquisite corpse that I know of. A common version of the exquisite corpse method involves two or more writers jotting down three sentences, then folding back the first two. Each author in succession receives only the last of the previous three lines to add upon. It continues like this until a surprising text coalesces, formed by chance and the collective imagination of several authors. Using a custom exquisite corpse web application, The Ivory Journey became a mildly coherent, poetic narrative about a king's mystical journey through his kingdom. With wild and vivid imagery, it illustrates the struggle for power between an aging king, a group of rogue politicians, and the local religious authorities. Split into nine chapters (one assigned to each of the Greek muses) this marvelous journey is one of the most complex and imaginative pieces I have ever worked on.
STATUS: Plans to pitch Ivory Journey for publication as experimental fiction have been considered and are pending.
***
Since I was a child, I have been deeply interested in poetry, particularly Surrealist, French, and Zen styles. I have written scores of poems over the years, and self-published one formal book of poetry.
Mythopoeia represents a synthesis of my early interests in surrealism, especially surrealist poetry, and my particular philosophical views. The marriage of these two unrelated topics has produced a unique approach to creative writing. In my life, poetry has taken on a strictly ritualistic and transformative role, designed to deconstruct conventional logic and pave the way to a higher level of consciousness. Images are carefully chosen so that a diverse range of conflicting objects, with precise concepts and qualities, are brought together in unexpected ways so as to loosen and dislodge ideas that have securely taken root in the consciousness. In the midst of this disorientation, meaning is implied loosely through instinct and tone, producing the desired result: to develop the faculty of intuition and free awareness from the grip of mundane and automatic cognitions.
Since Mythopoeia, a 36-page of surrealist poetry, first made appearances throughout local New York City bookstores, it has drawn interest and online book orders from around the globe.
A Review of Mythopoeia:
Both the Symbolist poets and the Surrealist movement set out to wage war on logic, linearity, and reality. Poet Alexander Romanovich takes up the charge with his first book of poetry, "Mythopoeia." This brief volume is filled with startling, wonderful images, neologisms, and portmanteau words that soar off the page. Infused with the amorphous logic of dreams, and an adherence to texture makes this not so much a book of poems as much as a book of spells. In spite of the obscurantism rampant in these pages, there is a crystalline clarity to the moods that Romanovich evokes. Rather than dwelling on darkness, the author creates complex images full of luminous tranquility. Romanovich's work arises from the same hallowed ground that gave birth to the glossolalia of such musicians as Sigur Ros, Cocteau Twins and Lisa Gerrard (an admitted influence - a poem here is even entitled "Yulunga").
-- Craig Laurance Gidney, author/critic
Contents (click to read samples):
Contents (click to read samples):
Mythopoeia is available for $5.