Quickness in E-Lit

Cruising by Ingrid Ankerson and Megan Sapnar

This interactive poem is part of an archive created by the above named authors. The web journal, called Poems That Go, is filled with digital Flash poetry. The interactivity of this particular Flash poem is limited, in some ways, but so encompasses the feel of the poem, it is appropriate. The viewer literally learns how to drive the poem. As the mouse navigates the screen, the photo roll will reel or slow down, while either zooming in or zooming out. The oral recitation of the poem is the only thing that has a fixed pace, and seems only a subconscious distraction as the viewer tries to gain control of the poem’s pace.

Calvino’s quickness is much about the rhythm of time, and how time effects the reading of a text. Poetry, in general, is one of the most concise ways to express a multitude of emotions, events, themes, lessons, etc., to infinity. Poetry also has a rhythm, usually one dictated by the author, that the reader must follow in order to understand the flow of the poem.

The interesting thing about the e-lit example is that it lets the reader choose his or her own rhythm, but it is not told to you how or what rhythms or paces the poem will take. So the reader has to literally learn how to drive the poem. As he or she moves his curser around the screen, the blur of visual images with text above it slow down and zoom in to let the reader try to match up the text and photos to the steady rhythm of the narrator speaking the poem and the background music.

I chose it because I thought it embodied quickness in our millennium perfectly. In the era where technology is ingrained into our everyday lives, we have become accustomed to ultimate independence. We can choose whatever we want. And in this poem, we even get to choose how quick we read the poem, but we have to learn to drive it first. The quickness of style that Calvino mentions is turned over as the responsibility of the reader. We are the ones that have to learn how to navigate the poem with agility, mobility, and ease.

We do not passively receive the pace of language, but actively participate in it, and have to learn how to control it.

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