Review: The Dreamlife of Letters

I believe it was in the introduction to The Dreamlife of Letters that the author said that putting the poem into its present digital format allowed it to invoke new meaning because of its digital dimension. (The poem had previously been written in a more conventional format.) Despite whatever implications either format may have had for the poem, readers—or, perhaps viewers in a case like this—are allowed to create their own meaning from what they see in the movement of the letters. This poem, in its digital format, relies primarily on the technique employed in the letters.

I found many nuances in the poem inspiring. Aside from the more basic techniques, such as spinning letters (C), and raining letters, one of the main things that I found interesting was how the author twisted so many of the standard perceptions we have of language. There were the more basic examples of wordplay—for example, with the letters b and d, multiple words were shown with the same letter. The author also created effects which were representative of certain words. For example, words such as “drip” fell in a dripping effect on the screen, and a bold black “ink” moved slowly across the screen creating a trail-effect reminiscent of an ink spill. My favorite technique involved the word “enterprised”—three more words emerged in a fountain-like effect from the beginning letter “e”. In other instances, the author essentially reduced the letters in some cases to mere lines—allowing, for example, Is (i) to turn into slashes (/). The letter “Y” seemed to “fill-up,” essentially turning the character into a stylized martini glass. These are examples of what I’d call “letter-play” or “punctuation-play.” In another case, the words “Hey” and “Hi” flashed on the screen in sequence as though they were voices in conversation with other.

There was little I found I didn’t like about The Dreamlife of Letters. I was surprised that there was no sound, but sound would have essentially turned the poems into movies. These poems can be viewed as being somewhere in between. I was honestly expecting a more climactic ending—something interesting involving the letter “z,” or perhaps something that worked in all of the letters. Although I’m not sure I would want to explore the technique to the extent that it is employed here, I’m definitely inspired by the intricacies involved here and would consider incorporating some of them into a future project.