sequencing, pt 1

or, how I gather for you wildflowers and arrange them in a bouquet

this will be a shorter post sharing about my process, to be followed by some related musings next week…

I’m working on sequencing right now. most of my experience doing this has been with albums, but I’ve never done it quite like this:

I shook my camera when I snapped this so there wouldn’t be any spoilers.¹² I hope you like my toes, cause in the next image they are absent.³

this section arrangement [above] took me about an hour and a half.

I got rid of a handful. I sought out a strong opener. I worked on pacing and spacing out some of the bunching themes, and in general tried to improve continuity.

I noticed there were lines that felt echoed across different poems. sometimes that was good, but sometimes it meant some in situ revision. and sometimes it just meant moving those two singers apart so you could better hear their harmonies.

sequencing is the alchemical act of placing the smaller pieces of a work into a meaningful & magnifying order. for music, it might be ordering the songs so they tell a story across the whole album. it might mean not placing three songs in the same basic tempo, key, and theme right next to each other. for this poetry collection, it has meant forming more shapely arcs out of the poems in each section.

maybe this is a bit dry.

but when it works, sequencing is pre-meditated magic. it immerses you in the world of the artwork. and for you transcendentalists out there, it’s like imbuing the whole work with an over-soul.

it’s an album you can play from top to bottom.

it’s a book that draws you in and immerses you in its current, pulling you along.

and hopefully, it’s a book of poetry where you find the poems in conversation with each other in a way that magnifies the individuals as well as the whole.

regardless, I strive for that resounding totality.⁴

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I want to explore some ideas behind that next week, but for now I am wondering:

Q: what are some artistic works where the sequencing was truly glorious? share one (or more) if something comes to mind.

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thanks for being here. I write weekly sharing poetry, songs, musings, thoughts on creative life, and hopefully some encouragement… my first collection of poetry, Snowmelt to Roots, is available in my shop, (or on Amazon). and my music is available here.

peace,

Z

1. this is common practice for poets in the lead up to releasing new work [see next footnote]

2. this is not actually common practice lol

3. [insert crying emoji]

4. in as much as my own work can bear up under the weight of those expectations…