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Even poets take account of the internet these days.  Some even write about it.  Storyteller and poet Rives, perhaps best known for his work on HBO’s Def Poetry, did so a couple years ago, with a reading captured for the online TED video series “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

You can view the four-minute reading at the TED website.  I encourage you to visit, not only to savor the poem but also to learn about TED, a venture sponsored by AutoDesk and BMW.  Each week, TED presents several talks or performances by provocative authors, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs.  I personally go there a lot for my own intellectual stimulation.  Sign up for the weekly newsletter to learn what’s upcoming.  [I learned about the Rives poem from a link in today's issue.]

This week, TED presents four talks that deal with creativity in one form or another.  Two of them seem of particular interest to writers.  From the TED newsletter — click on the links to view the videos:

Isaac Mizrahi, the fashion designer/talk-show host/cabaret star, gives a dizzying tour of his motivations for staying creative in so many fields. What’s his secret? “Always be a little bit bored all the time.”

Documentary filmmaker Franco Sacchi tours us through Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry — where local crews telling local stories can shoot a feature film in a week. How do they do it? Focusing on their audience, and the kinds of stories meaningful to them.

For those of you who can’t bear to leave Becoming A Writer Seriously, you will find the Rives poem reading video in the sidebar.  Just click the screenshot to open a player without leaving us.  This is a new feature here, which I’m calling VIDEO FOR WRITERS.  The sidebar presents four recently discovered videos.  For my entire collection, with each video carrying my annotation about its significance to writers, go to my site VIDEO FOR WRITERS, hosted by VodPod.

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