Several years ago, a couple of other poets and I wanted to collaborate on something. We weren't sure whether we'd be writing a play in verse, a series of linked poems - but we knew we wanted to write something together that would be more than the sum of our individual contributions.
I had just begun to step into the blog world and I was immersed (though I hadn't as yet started this blog). There were also so many journals beginning to accept work electronically and the possibilities seemed to multiply every time I looked.
So I suggested that we write a poem together that used the hypertextual nature of writing online. It was a basic kind of exercise in that kind of writing and the resultant poem - which used hyperlinks to strange, wonderful sites (or so it seemed to us at the time) - was rubbish and I'm glad we never placed it anywhere or I'd still be squirming.
All the same, I spent a long time thinking of collaborative work, the carefully designed serendipity of the links and thought how fantastic it could be if such a poem were written.
Turns out it can happen after all. Spiral Orb is where it does. This is how they describe themselves:
[Oh and I have a poem in Spiral Orb 3]. I'm not going to say which line leads to my poem. Go read the whole thing. I insist.
I had just begun to step into the blog world and I was immersed (though I hadn't as yet started this blog). There were also so many journals beginning to accept work electronically and the possibilities seemed to multiply every time I looked.
So I suggested that we write a poem together that used the hypertextual nature of writing online. It was a basic kind of exercise in that kind of writing and the resultant poem - which used hyperlinks to strange, wonderful sites (or so it seemed to us at the time) - was rubbish and I'm glad we never placed it anywhere or I'd still be squirming.
All the same, I spent a long time thinking of collaborative work, the carefully designed serendipity of the links and thought how fantastic it could be if such a poem were written.
Turns out it can happen after all. Spiral Orb is where it does. This is how they describe themselves:
Spiral Orb is an experiment in juxtaposition, interrelationships, and intertextuality—a cross-pollination. This opening poem composts fragments from each of the pieces in Spiral Orb Three. Standing also as the table of contents, each line is embedded with a hyperlink to its original poem. Once at each poem, you will find links to the other poems in Spiral Orb Three.Oh yes. This is what that poem could have been.
[Oh and I have a poem in Spiral Orb 3]. I'm not going to say which line leads to my poem. Go read the whole thing. I insist.
3 comments:
An interesting idea, but very hard to read, no? Unless I'm doing something wrong, the mind tends to want to "load" all the separate strands into RAM and is soon overwhelmed!
By the way, you are surely aware that Fapjprid exists? I may sue.
Dala, reminds me of that old experiment! The only thing I really liked about that poem was my link to Tati's site! :)
Ludo-san: Do you think so? You could, of course, start by opening several windos and get the first reading out of the way. And then follow links as your fancy takes you?
I had forgotten about the unpronouncable poem. :-) Do your worst, I say!
Sampurna: :D And I remember the Tati site took ages to load on my browser. Autres temps!
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