Thursday, September 30, 2010

Symbocation: Exploring Cyberspace as a Novice E-Poet

Electronic poetry is a form of electronic literature that transforms the average textual poem into something much more. While written expression, especially poetry, has always been a large part of any culture, the invention and expansion of the technological world has allowed poetry to evolve in ways that people had never imagined.
As of yet, there is no clear definition of electronic poetry. There is no practicality behind declaring one anyway, considering that it would probably change at the same rate as technology changes, and technology is always changing. However, Deena Larson gives us what she considers to be the broadest and simplest definition of e-poetry available, “poetry that uses both text and sensory information other than text to convey meaning”. What does this mean, exactly? It means that electronic poetry uses not only the text to reach readers but also images, sound, symbols, movement etc. to do so as well. Using these elements is referred to as symbocation (Larsen). As technology advances in our world electronic poets find new and interesting ways to stimulate readers through electronic poetry. Currently there are many different programs that electronic poets use to reach readers through the internet. 
What makes electronic poetry different from poetry one might find in a book is that electronic poetry relies on a reader to create action and meaning. “Like a musician playing an instrument, a user could be said to play an application...A digital poetry object is by default - or almost always - a piece of software that needs a user to become an instrument of/for signification” (Memmott 294). Without a reader to create something of an electronic poem - to hear, see, or interact with it - the poem is like an instrument that is not being played. It is simply an object with no meaning or purpose. 
“The Roar Of Destiny Emanated” by Judy Malloy is an example of electronic poetry that forces the reader to think beyond the words on the page. Interactivecinema.org describes the e-poem as “...a perfect example of thought and physical interaction working together...”. At first glance the poem is a mix up of words and phrases against a stark black background, each word or phrase a different color or with a unique color-fill background. The word “Reset” sits in the middle of the page for the reader to click on. When the reader clicks on the hyperlink work “reset” he or she is transported to a page with six boxes of text filled with random words and phrases that are hyperlinks, waiting to transport the reader to a new page. Each box has a different color-fill background and if the reader waits for awhile without touching the page the colors in the backgrounds change. Once the reader clicks on a word or phrase that he or she finds intriguing the page changes and a new set of words appear, as well as a new background color. However, on this page the written poetry appears in bold font so it is to be easily identified. The page also contains several words in hyperlink that the reader can choose to view another poem. 





One of the most interesting things about e-poetry is that sometimes it allows the reader to be in full control of the action that occurs. “The Roar of Destiny Emanated” is one such poem. However, when a poem gives the reader control of the action the reader must then learn how to interact with that work. Sometimes this can be difficult. Malloy’s work discussed here seems somewhat disjointed at first read. The phrases that the reader is initially presented with are not a story, they do not even really make sense, so the reader must say to his or herself, “How can I make some sense of this? What do I have to do to discover the meaning behind this poem?”. Malloy adds a lot of depth to the poem by producing it as a work of e-poetry. If “The Roar of Destiny” was a poem on a printed page it would take away the reader’s privilege to choose what to read. The beauty of this poem lies in the way the reader can pick the phrases that are stimulating to then read a poem that encompasses this phrase. 
“The Roar of Destiny Emanated” seems to me to be about life in it’s entirety. The random nature of the phrases symbolize the unpredictability of life, the presence of extended ellipses are, perhaps, the pauses that we take in order to think and reflect on the events that occur to us and around us, and the hyperlinks that take the reader to a different page symbolize the idea that one thing always leads to another. Life does not always follow a linear path, much like this poem. Also, the colors of the backgrounds that change when the poem changes symbolize human emotions and the ability to change. While the poems are beautifully crafted, much of the meaning has nothing to do with the written words at all. 
Another highly interesting electronic poem is one called “Fidget” by Kenneth Goldsmith which we studied in class a few weeks ago. This poem is very different from “The Roar of Destiny Emanated” as it allows the reader to physically do less, but stimulates the reader’s mind more. “Fidget” opens as a small box that has a timestamp in the center of it which includes a date and a time. There are many animated phrases floating around the time stamp connected by a line. Most of these phrases appear the same, however some blink, fade, or appear in different colors. When the reader clicks in the box the background changes, as does the time stamp and the text of the animated words. Each phrase illustrates some sort of movement or action. Although the reader cannot physically do much more than click to change the background and text, the poem is stimulating for two reasons. Firstly, the visual element of the text constantly moving gives the reader something to focus on at all times. Secondly, although each individual phrase makes sense by itself, one must read for a moment to understand what bigger action the movements describe. Sometimes Goldsmith is describing himself eating, working out, or reading a book. 



The concept of this poem is that Goldsmith documented his every action for 16 hours, even the things that some people would overlook. He then transcribed each movement to create this poem “Fidget”. The poem shows that people are hardly ever really sitting still. Even when one believes that they are not doing an action perhaps they are tapping a pencil, wiggling a toe, or chewing the inside of a lip. Instead of using a phrase like “Run” or “Eat” Goldsmith breaks the action down even further to show the reader what even smaller movements make up these bigger actions. He uses words such as “Tilt” and “Lips Open”. “Fidget” is intellectually stimulating because it gives the reader a chance to be more self aware. After reading the poem one might ask themselves, what do I do that makes up the movements in my daily life? How can I break it down further? What do I do when I am not paying attention to myself? What am I doing right now? 
Writing e-poetry is certainly not an easy task. In fact, after trying to create my own e-poetry in class, I applaud all of the e-poets we have studied in thus far. I have always enjoyed writing, especially poetry, so I thought that the assignment would be a piece of cake for me. I was surprised when I found myself frustrated after given free time to work on our PowerPoints in class.
I had an idea of what it was that I wanted to write about. I wanted to create a poem about the rain, because I have always loved it. I wanted this poem to include different instances of my childhood and young adult life where the rain tied into something else important to me; my family, my friendships, and important events. I ran into a problem because I had enough trouble formulating my ideas, the endless possibilities of e-poetry did not help to alleviate my stress. I wanted to incorporate something clever (music, movement, images, I did not know what yet) but I did not want to lose the integrity of my poem, especially since it partially centralizes on my childhood which I associate with simplicity. Ultimately I decided that the best way to approach my poem was to use one constant background and incorporate movement into the text. I was inspired by the images in the poem “Fireflies” that uses rich backgrounds to interest the reader in a dusky, earthy world.