Kinetic and Interactive Poetry

Chapter five of Electronic Literature was about kinetic and interactive poetry. Scott Rhettburg uses a quote from Chris Funkhouser to explain how poetry is a form of electronic literature, specifically stating that a “poem is a digital poem if computer programming or processes are distinctively used in the composition, generation, or presentation of the text”. I found this quote interesting, because when reading through E.E. Cumming’s poem “because i love you)last night” I could not understand how it was electronic literature. The punctuation was peculiar which led me to assume that the piece could have been made using a processor, however E.E. Cummings passed away in the early 60s, which means this was not a possibility. In this chapter I found the “concrete poetry” section to be the most interesting because whenever I have considered poetry I have always focused on word choice or syllable sounds, however concrete poetry forces you to focus instead on the visual or auditory expression in the poem which influences the emotions you feel and the reaction you have to the writing. This made me wonder if one of the reasons I prefer certain poets to others is because of the way they are presented rather than what their poets' words mean. 

I chose to look further into Windsound by John Cayley. This piece is a 23-minute text movie. It starts with a series of software generated letters and slowly, as the reader focuses and tries to makeout familiar words, the letters shift and morph until real phrases appear. A voice then reads aloud the story that appears. Following the words being spoken, they begin to “glitch” again. This work won the 2001 Electronic Literature Award for poetry. The electronic Literature Directory states that “Heather McHugh, the judge of the competition, remarked that windsound ‘reveals the power of letters, even as it plays with the limits of literal intelligibility’”. I found this piece particularly interesting because it compels the brain to make sense of the letters appearing on the screen and crave comprehension. 

Windsound

Sabrina Brown