"Channel in Channel out" is one of the many reasons why I'm so proud to have released two albums on Karaoke Kalk. Marcus Cotten from Portland is the artist behind "Channel in Channel out". He released this extraordinary album called "The Author And The Narrator" the last year.

Portland: I remember the Reed college with Momus, this huge swing hanging from the enormous ceiling, me getting vertigo and catching nausea from flying so high. I remember a teacher who came to me talking about the writer Georges Perec, after he heard my song about Perec's book "Tentative d'épuisement d'un lieu parisien". The tranquil and almost Swiss atmosphere of Portland, close to the Suisse I lived nearby in southern Alsace.

I made an image for the next Toog record, if there is one: the piano album. And it happened to be grey. Going far into my music memories, I found two amazing grey covers, albums who shaped my musical taste. This flying animal is an amateur photography form the 70's.

Quand j'avais 20 ans, en quête d'un sens religieux, j'ai fréquenté des sectes chrétiennes dangereuses, parce que détachées de toute hiérarchie. Heureusement, un «grand-frère» est venu me chercher et m'a conduit vers un prêtre. Dès lors, ma foi a trouvé un cadre, que l'on peut critiquer (j'ai l'habitude, depuis 2000 ans). Quand je vois ce qui est arrivé à ce jeune à Toulouse, la folie qui s'est emparée de lui, je ne peux que penser à ma propre aventure spirituelle, aux dangers qui lui sont liés, et surtout, à la responsabilité des aînés.

Photo: l'école que je fréquentais alors, impasse du Mont Tonnerre à Montparnasse

Piano cemetery.

Lucien Suel par cheswepes

We had such a wonderful poetry time in Amiens, Picardie. First of all, the cathedral of Amiens, a true mystic jewel. The display and space (biggest in France), the atone grey colour of the stone inside, idealizing the rose windows, the stained glasses; the old doors, the different levels, the labyrinth in the nave, an ancient pilgrimage for the people who couldn't afford a Jerusalem pilgrimage. Even if I was not a Catholic person I would go there on sundays to listen to the bishop, when it's filled with real people coming for a real purpose, the same as the one for which it was built in 1220, instead of tourists like me. It was a bit cold inside, colder than outside!

Later there was a screening of my documentary about French poetry in a brick house called La Briqueterie; every ancient house is made of brick in the old Amiens. We had a discussion with the public, who was polite and smart, making compliments first then gentle critics. I said « Why not making a film about poetry yourself? There is plenty of room in this deserted place full of voices. »

Then I was lucky to make a poetry reading with my friend the poet Ivar Ch'Vavar, who red chants from his last book « Titre », an epic taking place in Berck. Born in 1951, Ivar used to work under 111 pseudonyms. He's a living genius, one of the last poet who's working with his own voice, in a permanent reinvention of it. He's the writer of « Hölderlin au mirador », a previous epic in 27 chants. His last work was a 41 episodes poem for the poetry website Poezibao. There was also the immense poet (it's almost scary to read with giants) Lucien Suel, who finished his reading with his extraordinary poem Patismit, a souvenir of a Patti Smith concert... in the picard dialect!

Poets don't make money; they don't get recognition, they have no social status, this is why you can trust them: there is a unique sense of generosity in poetry.

Arte parle de notre travail, c'est cool. Du 7 mars au 25 mars à Paris.

La semaine prochaine, je suis à Amiens pour une lecture signature de mon livre, avec l'immense poète Ivar Ch'Vavar et Lucien Suel, poète qui est aussi devenu auteur à succès. La séance est suivie par une projection de mon film documentaire sur la poésie en France. Qui sera aussi montré à Montréal dans le cadre du 30ème FIFA, Festival international du film sur l'art. Curieux, puisque FIFA, en France, c'est tout à fait autre chose...