Part of the Process

    Electronic poetry is something I have become familiar with in the past month through reading, interacting, and even designing my own e-poetry.  E-poetry may sound like a simple concept, but there is much more to it than simply poetry on a computer screen.  In order for a poem to actually be considered e-poetry it must be multidimensional and require a user to play with it in order for its full scope of meaning to become apparent.  The author can make this happen in a variety of ways such as a word dropping into the page once you click on that space, or disappearing after a certain amount of time. 
    The different animations are almost limitless, but animation is not the point of digital poetry, rather the point is to use electronic tools which give the poem layers of meaning.  The user discovers and understands the deeper meanings of the text through playing with the electronic poem.  Talan Memmott describes in his article “Beyond Taxonomy: Digital Poetics and the Problem of Reading” that a “digital poem is a language that must be read holistically for all the technologies and methods of signification at play” (Memmott 303).  What he means by this is that the motions, colors, and interactions of the e-poem all have an integral meaning for the whole poem.  This is to say, the technological aspects of electronic poetry are inextricable from the poem itself; they give each other their significance. 
    Roxanne Carter’s electronic poem entitled “Housing Problems” is by far my favorite e-poem that I have come across.  The first page you come to has squares of animated women in seemingly desperate situations, possibly from horror stories.  When you click on each picture a new window appears and displays a sentence, a picture with a moving poem, or seven lines with drop arrows that allow you to design your own poem (see below).  Short and simple yet poinient videos appear as you click on the new windows.  This particular e-poem is a story about all women, and how harsh the world around us can often be.  Many of the women in the poem are hiding or being chased, houses burnt down and other tragic or simply trying situations that we must deal with.  Carter uses the technological mechanisms available to her in order to let the user discover what women are confronted with by the world.  The video with the ticking clock for example is (in my opinion) commenting on how women's time is a commodity, and always being demanded of us.  She allows the user to change the words and make new sentences of our own, all of which accentuate how applicable the poem is to every unique woman, and the idea that females live in such a turbulent world.

    Another e-poem I found especially interesting was "Fidget" by Kenneth Goldsmith.  This electronic poem had text floating around and connected by lines, which you could then connect by clicking on them (see below).  The words were all little movements we all engage in throughout our day, usually without paying them much mind.  I think that what Goldsmith is trying to get at is that we are extremely energetic beings, and even when we think we sitting still we are actually moving constantly.  Also, the tool bar allows you to zoom in and out and adjust the speed.  I think that his use of technology in this way illuminates the fact that we all may be different and go about our lives in different ways or speeds, but we are all restless at our core.  We all pine for something else.  Nothing gives us a complete sense of peace.  We never stop. 

    As I mentioned earlier, the different ways in which you can animate your e-poetry are almost limitless.  This is the major issue I personally ran into when trying to create my own e-poem.  Even though I am a minimalist when it comes to my poetry, I couldn’t help myself with the little movements and positions I could use to bring the page to life (see below).  This of course ended up looking pretty cool, but begin to detract from the text itself.  I had to remind myself that the point of the word flying onto the page or drooping downwards was to assist the text so that the reader may better understand my intentions and feelings.  However distracting and time consuming this process was, it was just that: a part of the process.  It is just as important to play with these devices and explore the terrain of electronic devices (with a fair amount of deleting and undoing) as it is to arrive at a completed e-poem.