Exploring Yardley, PA 1997 from the collection Hotwriting (2017) was such a fun and creative experience! I loved how each line of the poem was linked to a key on the keyboard, each one playing its own little music clip. It felt like I wasn’t just reading a poem, it felt like I was performing it. I kept pressing different keys to see how the words and sounds would come together, and every time it created something new, almost like remixing poetry into music. To be honest, I also found it a bit hard to keep up since the words would go away so quickly, and I would miss a couple of lines. But that challenge made it even more engaging, it pushed me to stay focused.
What stood out to me most about this piece was how it changed the way I think about poetry and reading in general. Normally poetry feels still and quiet, something you read at your own pace, but this experience was the complete opposite, it was active and unpredictable. I liked that it gave me control as the reader, yet also reminded me how easily that control can slip away when the words disappeared too soon. It perfectly aligns with digital literature, where text and technology work together to create new forms of meaning and interaction.
Jody Zellen’s Avenue S offered a very different, yet equally compelling, experience. It captures the eerie stillness of life during the Covid pandemic, when empty city streets and suspended routines defined daily life. The work features playful doodles of deserted urban spaces alongside references to the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020, grounding it in a moment that was both isolating and socially significant. I was struck by how the minimal interactivity mirrors the experience of a lockdown, there’s little to control, yet the subtle movements and arrangements of words and images draw the viewer in, creating a quiet, reflective space.
Together, these works highlight the wide range of digital literature. Yardley, PA 1997 invites playful interaction, letting readers perform, remix, and create alongside the text, while Avenue S uses minimal interactivity to reflect on a historical moment and evoke deep emotions. Both demonstrate how technology can expand the possibilities of reading, turning poetry and visual works into immersive experiences that are dynamic and deeply connected to the moments they represent.
