Thursday, September 30, 2010

All About Electronic Poems!

            Before taking this course, I had never experienced electronic poetry. I always thought that a poem had to be words written down, not with effects, animations, and sounds. After learning about electronic literature and viewing several, I have learned that I am even more interested in it than regular poetry. There are so many different ways the poet is able to convey his or her message to the reader. The sounds that are made, the way the words come onto the page, the different ways the poem is organized, the different colors and fonts that are used, and finally the ways that the poems can be viewed by different readers all fascinate me. For example, in some poems, you can click on certain words and the poem can explain to you something completely different than what somebody else would see. It really is an extraordinary way of creating a poem.
            The first secondary reading we read in electronic literature was “A Quick Buzz around the Universe of Electronic Poetry” by Deena Larsen. This article explains what electronic poetry is all about; it’s different attributes and the sensory information it contains. More specifically, after reading the article, I learned about symbiociation. Symbiociation, to me, are all of the different attributes that are included in an e-poem. For example, the article shows that in an electronic poem symbiociation is shown through the symbols, form, movement, imagery, navigation, and non-linear structure (Larsen, p1). All of these contributions merge together to form this poem that has such a deep and more expressed meaning. “Poets are even experimenting with new ways of creating poetic structures and navigating the poem so the same words may take on very different associations (and symbiociations) depending on the path the reader takes“(Larsen, p1). The author expresses to us here that the symbiociation of an electronic poem is the different associations that the poem uses. The article also explains how in e-poems, words and different links are sometimes hidden, insisting that the reader moves the mouse to release what is actually hidden (Larsen, p1).
            The next secondary reading we were assigned to read was called “Beyond Taxonomy: Digital Poetics and the Problem of Reading” by Talan Memmott. This article explains how electronic poems convert from being just on paper to being electronic. Also, what I got from this article was that no electronic poem could ever be the same. They are too complex and there are too many different contributions to them that two could ever be too much alike. “Two works that use the same technology may produce entirely different poetic events. Because digital poetry cannot be reduced to a genre of poetry, we must begin to consider the applied poetics of the individual practitioner” (Memmott, p294).  There are just way too many associations that contribute to an electronic poem to ever allow two poems to be similar.
            An electronic poem that we read in class that was very interesting to me was “Fidget” by Kenneth Goldsmith. In this e-poem, Goldsmith expresses every single action he does during a thirteen-hour period of time. Electronically, he makes the words come onto the screen at different times. Some arrive very fast; some arrive to the screen slower. Though, all the words (or phrases) begin to overlap and it’s hard to read everything that is thrown at you. Another interesting attribute to this e-poem is that you can click on the words and it will change what actions the poet is talking about. I found this interesting. Also, for certain slides, the poet would have the words enter the screen connected with lines. Different times of the day had different colors, fonts, and font sizes. This electronic poem is a perfect example of the many different attributions that can be included in an electronic poem.

            After researching an electronic poem of my own, I found “Sinking” written by Ingrid Ankerson. This e-poem had sound, that was just music without words. The background color stayed the same the whole time, like royal blue water. The font typically stayed the same with the exception of a few words that were bolded and enlarged, leading me to believe that these words have deeper meaning. Ankerson compares washing her dishes to a time when she was younger when she thought she knew how to swim. After watching the whole poem, I concluded that she was comparing “thinking” she knew how to swim to “thinking” she had everything under control in her life. She was using the dirty dishes as sort of a metaphor, for all of the things piling up in her life. The music seemed to have the same feel as her words did and sent across a sort of nervous message. Another thing I found was that was odd in the poem was that the author ended it will the word “knife”. There were many different utensils that she could have concluded with but instead, she expains how out of all of the dishes, she will start with washing the knife. Because she seemed angry and disappointed in herself throughout most of the poem, it made me nervous when I realized that she had ended with that word. “Sinking” was a very interesting digital poem that consisted of maybe of the attributes I have talked about.

            The first electronic poem I was introduced to in this class was classed “The Mermaid” by Alis Young. This poem was very interesting because when you first open it, the only thing you see are a bunch of, what seem to be words, mixed together. Though, when you drag your mouth over the words, they seem to extend, depending on which way you move the mouse. The words are very fidgety, so they are hard to comprehend. Though, there is one phrase that is legible and does not move no matter what. It is, “The mermaid found a swimming lad,” in all capital letters. Once you read that, you must try to maneuver your mouse over the words in such a way that they are right side up and in clear view. There is no sound to this poem, but the background stays this fusia pink color and the font is in white letters. Maybe this is because the mermaid is a female, and pink is looked at as a girly color. Mermaid is a good poem for trying to figure out and understand what the point is of having the poem set up in such an odd way. In class when we discussed the poem, we came up with the idea that maybe it is because there is so much going on at one time, and it is supposed to be sort of confusing. The way you have to try to make the words be still and upright is kind of like the way you have to understand the meaning of the words.

            After learning about what exactly an electronic poem is and experiencing so many of them, I was assigned to created one of my own. Because I am not very good with the computer, I was nervous how it would turn out. Though I am only in the start of my first electronic poem, I am finding it very fun to include all of the different attributes. My favorite part is finding color, images, and fonts that relate to the message I am trying to convey. Because I am writing about an electronic poem about my niece that will be born shortly, it was interesting to experiment with all the different attributes that can relate to a newborn and a new member of our family. I believe the images I found will allow me express my message more freely than if I were simply writing a poem on paper.
            Originally, I wanted my electronic poem to be about my father. But the idea quickly got terminated when I realized that I did not exactly know how to fully express my ideas about him through different contributions to my poem. I thought that writing about my niece would be a fun, exciting, interesting way to convey a message to my reader. The thing about the creative process that frustrates me most is definitely figuring out how to work Microsoft Power Point. I am not an expert with computers, so learning how to do different, fun themes with my poem is not easy. There are certain ways I want the words to move onto the screen and certain ways I hope that the words will fit together on the screen and because I do not have the knowledge I am unable to achieve it. I also wanted to do something similar to what the poem “Fidget” by Kenneth Goldsmith did. I liked how when you clicked on a word, the author would change what the poem was talking about. It started talking about something different. I would want to do something like that for my poem, but I do not know if this software allows it, or what software would.
            In my opinion, electronic literature is an interesting way of getting the message across to the reader; whether it be through words, colors, fonts, sounds, etc. There are so many different ways to go about making an electronic poem and that’s why I believe I find it to be so unique and creative. Learning about electronic literature has been very new and exciting to me and I am anxious to see how my very own e-poem turns out.





Citations
1) Currents in Electronic Literacy Fall 2001 (2),
<http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/fall01/larsen/quickbuzz.html>. 
2) Memmott Talan. “Beyond Taxonomy: Digital Poetics and the Problem of Reading.” Mit Press 293-206. Web. 3) http://archives.chbooks.com/online_books/fidget/index.html

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