A New Kind of Sonnet: The Beginning of E-Poetry

As traditional and nostalgic as most poetry is, it would seem that such literature would have no place in a society where megabytes never load fast enough. Yet, as media evolves, so must art-and poetry refuses to get left behind in the vicious competition for audience attention. Today's reader expects a multi-sensory experience. Words alone do not suffice in a world where many websites brim with videos, audio recordings and interactive features like games and polls. Forget printed words on a page. Cue the birth of e-poetry.

Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA shares strong ties with poetry. The university, located in Richmond, VA, hosts one of the country's top M.F.A. Creative Writing programs according to U.S. News and World Report's graduate school rankings. At the cutting edge of e-poetry, the university runs Blackbird, a nationally acclaimed online literary journal. Professor Nicholas Sharp, the Associated Chair of English at VCU, gave a presentation on e-poetry in March 2009 at "Poetea." Poetea is one of VCU's student-run clubs and focuses on writing and reading poetry while enjoying a variety of teas.

During his Poetea presentation, Sharp cited different types of what he calls, "new poetries." He mentioned the post-modern poetry of artists like Benjamin Zephaniah. Zephaniah, a Jamaican poet raised in England, started out as an oral poet but gradually transitioned to television and, now, Internet videos. Each video concentrates on Zephaniah and his ability to articulate and gesticulate. Yet the videos are not simply recordings of slam performances, either. They are carefully planned and edited. The videos share a similar vibe to that of music videos; they boast visual coherence and a clear rhythm. "Rong Radio" and "Genetics" are his most widely known poems, both of which appear on websites like YouTube. (To learn more about Zephaniah, read his writings, and check out his new poetries, visit www.bejaminzephaniah.com.) According to Sharp, "performance determines form" in much of new poetry.

Furthermore, Sharp introduced Poetea members to digital poetry, also known as "electronic," "cyber," "new media," "virtual," and "flash" poetry. Sharp particularly focused on the work of Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. Very little public information about the creators exists, especially since the duo presents even "official" documents, like résumés, in the form of artistic flash art. The creators do reveal, however that they are a Korean and French couple by the names of Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge living in Seol. The poems typically begin with a countdown, as done in old-fashioned film, and feature the computer voice known as Victoria. Music, particularly jazz, accompanies the flash poetry. Many of the poems appear in more than one language, including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Korean. (Further explore Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries' work at http://www.yhchang.com/.)

During his one-hour presentation, Professor Sharp could only discuss so many poets and e-poetry techniques. It is important to realize that numerous other creative types are experimenting with electronic poetry using a variety of media outside of plain paper books. Elements like sound and light, which simply do not exist in the books most of us grew up reading in school, will soon dominate the oldest form of literature. These new features should obviously impact the reader-how can muttering Shakespearean sonnets to yourself possibly compare to watching a poet essentially sing and dance on screen-but the question is how?

In fact, there are many questions surrounding e-poetry. How does one define e-poetry and what are its main characteristics? (It seems easier to point to something and identify it as e-poetry than explain what exactly e-poetry is.) How does e-poetry's immateriality affect the way the reader views the text? Is e-poetry "book art"? If so, how does it change the definition of book art? How does e-poetry allow the reader to interact with the text differently than he does with the traditional book?

It is now up to this generation of writers, artists, and critics to delve into these questions and attempt to answer them. The rest of us will probably just sit back and enjoy the poetry brought to us via the Internet.