My Encounters with Electronic Poetry in Class

(I was unable to get the screenshots where I wanted them so that's why they're at the top of the post.)

With less than a month and only four classes in, we've already been exposed to several very interesting kinds of electronic poetry. We've looked at some that have been written first then adapted into a digital version. Some required us to move our mouse over the text in a certain way to view what the text said. Others simply started on their own and all we had to do was listen and watch the progression of images and text. Some where we had to fully participate and changed the text line by line or stanza by stanza as the images changed. Although they were all very unique in their presentation and what was required of the reader, they all managed to lead us to interpretations that we may not have come up with if we were reading the poem on a piece of paper. My favorite experience required little participation of the mouse but a good amount of interpretation. It was "Faith" by Robert Kendall.

"Faith" consisted of a combination of different fonts, different colors, sounds, and special effects. The first thing you see when "Faith" begins is the word "faith" at the top of the screen and it is a very ornate font in the color of orange. The word "logic" begins to fall from above it and bounces off of "faith" then falls down and disappears. Each time they hit the word "faith" there is a little pinging sound. One of them remains on the page and forms the beginning of the sentence "logic can't bend this". These words are a light orange and the font is very simple. A button appears at the bottom of the screen that says "So…" and once clicked, the next bunch of words of the poem are added to the ones already present on the screen. They reveal the sentence "I edge logic out. Can't the mind press on around the bend to consummate this vision of the deep "or"? As these words appear, light sounds play. These words are red. Another button appears at the bottom that says "Maybe. But…" Once clicked, words rearrange to form new words and other words are added to form the sentence "I hedge. Oh red winking neon logic. No, I just can't make the sunny side of my mind press the black button, think around the bend of theory to be only this consummate "o" this visionary "r" of the deeper world." As these words appear, wistful music plays. These words are a dark red. Another button appears that says "yet then…" and the rest of the poem appears as more words are added and rearranged. The music playing is suspenseful and intense as if leading to the conclusion and the words are in black. They say "I step to the idea edge elegantly and oh so ultimately, not just any watered down walking out, but a fine wine of leave-taking, a full-bodied forgoing-going-gone upon the logic lip. No, I just can't make the usual sense anymore, so I'll simply stride out of my mind, press my foot firmly into the black, all-but-bottomless chasm beyond the brink, around the bend, off the rocker (yippee!), to leave behind only this consummate poem, this visionary, incorruptible transcript of the deeper world's One True Word: Leap". The word "leap" grows to the size of the screen and slowly disappears. The next button says "Now…" and once clicked all the words start to fall to the bottom of the screen leaving just the words "Just to sum up:" and then the word "faith" at the top falls down to the bottom and crushes all the words so that it is at the end of the sentence. As the words fall, sounds play that sound like something tumbling down.

The meaning I got out of this poem was that Faith withstands all logic. It seemed that Kendall started out confused about whether he should use logic or faith and this was represented by the colors of the words. They started out light and progressively grew darker as though his realization was becoming more concrete that all he needs is a leap of faith. The music also showed his progression from confusion to his realization because it started out light like it was just a thought and it grew more intense the deeper his thoughts became. Lastly, the way that the words fell down and all that was left was "faith" seemed to show that Kendall was acknowledging that once you find faith, nothing else matters. This poem evoked emotions that were very touching and would have been absent if it wasn't in this digital format. For this particular poem, I believe it is necessary to read it on the screen because simply reading it without the added elements doesn't give me the same reaction. Just rereading the poem that I rewrote in this blog didn't even evoke any emotion in me. The interpretations I drew from the e-poem were all based on the colors, sounds, fonts, and special effects done with the words. Those are what made me contemplate the meaning more and I don't believe that words on a page would have meant the same. The word choice even seems more powerful because of the digital elements. I would consider it a mistake for it to be presented any differently.