Poetry and pixels and popups, oh my!

My initial response to electronic poetry based on the pieces assigned so far is excitement and fascination honestly. I signed up for this class because of interest in literature, the cultural impact of the electronic age, fulfillment of the ITS requirement and just plain curiosity’s sake. What does electronic literature mean? I knew about blogs, I knew what Zork is but I really had an exceedingly vague idea of electronic literature. And now that I have even the slightest idea I am hopeful for the reading part of “Reading/Writing Electronic Literature” and maybe a bit intimidated by the ‘writing’ aspect. It seemed to me that the main idea of the three assigned pieces is that bringing themes and methods of poetry to the digitalized realm can enhance the message and imagery of the poetry giving the reader a different experience and leaving the reader.
In “The Best Cigarette”, Billy Collins uses animation to create a stream of images while he narrates the poem. Starting with a typeset, foreshadowing the end of the poem. The images flow into one another, rising out of smoke, or the smoke rose in mirrored patterns that seemed oddly forboding as the poem discussed the contradictions of cigarettes, hinting at the allure of danger, and later on, the productivity that stems from habit.
“Puzzling Through Nine Lives” is not animated like the Collins poem but I’d venture that it’s even more effective. Pulling pieces about to revel the lines of the poems, the images on the tiles alter forming a patchwork. Forming a face. Forming a map. The multifacted, confusing and everchanging nature of identity is emphasized by the structure of the electronic elements of the poem as it becomes interactive, creating and shaping the idea of identity.
And unlike “The Best Cigarette” by Collins and “Nine: Puzzling through Several Lives” by Lewis, “A Man Young and Old: The Mermaid” was originally written by Yeats, before the digital age. It was adopted by Alis Yung into “The Mermaid”. I don’t know if it was just my computer but when I tried to read the poem, the stanzas wiggled and flopped about, I would not have known what the poem even said if I had not already read the text only poem. But the format and motion of the poem reminded me of the slippery, unsteady, impermenance of the sea, fish, love and life as the poem speaks of.
I’m looking forward to the course, the three introductory pieces we read display how poetry can be portrayed in the digital age, not just on a flat page but moving, but alive, interactive. It engages the reader on a whole new level, helping them gain a deeper understanding of the message of the poem.