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 More About the Inspiration for the Dead Prez Project Chris King, the brainfather of the dead president project, has a thing for Ovid, the great Roman poet of desire and change. In his favorite used bookstore in Greenwich Village, Mercer Street Books, Chris snagged a copy of After Ovid, a collection of contemporary translations and adaptations of this randy, complicated dead poet.It's a fantastic book. And it owes its existence to two editors, Michael Hofmann and James Lasdun, who had the good sense to ask some of their favorite poets to write something in the spirit of - after - Ovid. As Chris was savoring that collection, he was also reading a book of poems by Robert Lowell. It included a poem called "Abraham Lincoln" that seemed only vaguely to be about that dead president. Chris tried, without success, to put the poem to music. But he did succeed in putting two and two together. You can take an idea, commission your favorite writers to respond to it, and help provoke the creation of worthwhile works of art. And you can compose a portrait of a dead U.S. president. Therefore, you can commission your favorite songwriters to write songs about dead U.S. presidents, and hope for the best. * Links:
An online archive of Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses, in English translation.
A Robert Lowell page. Includes a link to his great skuntry poem, "Skunk Hour."
Daedalus Books, publisher of After Ovid and many other fine tomes.
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