E-Poetry by Cassie Lewis

Unlike the traditional poems written in ink, e-poetry is digital and interactive. This allows the readers to connect differently than they could before. This type of poetry is more interesting than conventional styles that have been taught in school. E-poetry can appear in countless different forms. A poem can be as simple as Puddle by Neil Hennessy or as complex as The Sweet Old Etcetera by Alison Clifford. With electronic literature and technology growing, e-poetry will continue to gain popularity which may lead to an overtake the classic ways of teaching poetry.

The piece that caught my attention the most was The P.o.E.M.M Cycle by Jason Edward Lewis and Bruno Nadeau. This series of poems are intended for an audience of any age and requires a mobile device. By downloading one of the poems in the series allows one to physically interact with a word or a group of words. For instance, Speak allows the reader to drag their finger along the screen creating a line of words that eventually creates a sentence which build poems. Know is another example from The P.o.E.M.M Cycle that allows the reader to enjoy poetry through an app on a mobile device. When you open the app a screen full of words appears allowing the person interacting with the poem to click on the screen making words bold. By touching different words, the viewer finds hidden messages and sentences.

The use of e-poetry utilizes the imagination and causes creativity to spread more rapidly than previously taught. Being able to envision and physically interact with what your reading brings out different dimensions of the text and also allows each reader to experience something different from the norm. E-poetry is not only changing how readers view art, but it is also the way the art is being made causing creativity to flourish.