Representatives and A Study in Shades

The first piece of work I chose to analyze was Representatives by Megan Sapnar. In this poem, the poet is describing a relationship that is strained between two sisters. When the reader first opens the poem, a green screen pops up. On one side is a picture of a women sitting behind a computer screen, seemingly at work. She has what appears to be a headset on. On the other side, there is a picture of another women who is on the phone. A fast-paced drum song is playing in the background. The music is steady and powerful, which ( as the reader will see ) is fitting to the tone of the poem. Once the reader clicks the picture, the image remains but the sound of a phone ringing begins to play. The phone rings a few times and then a woman's voice picks up and says " Hello?" Both pictures are shaking slightly and there are black lines connecting the two images which are symbolic of the telephone connection.

As the reader hovers their cursor over the women on the phone, the words " A women I've never met before joins me in the kitchen." The reader must then click on her image. The screen then turns red as the poem begins to appear. The different lines appear in bold black as the screen behind them remains bright red. The poem speaks of the strained relationship between the two sisters and how both of them enjoy the distance between them. It is not uncommon to associate the color red with anger or rage which appear to be the message of the poem thus far and describes how the first women is feeling. The music in the background features what sounds like a morocco which instantly reminded me of the sound a rattlesnake makes before it strikes its victim. The interaction at this point is limited; the reader simply follows the text which appears without any clicking or searching.


After the reader has finished the first section, they must click on the image again to return to the main, green page. They will now hover over the other image of the women at the computer. The words " Some things are truly lost I will tell her" appear. The reader will now click on her image and the screen will turn a serene shade of blue. Text will appear which tells of all the different events this sister is telling to the other sister. Some events are serious, such as someone who is ill, while others are trivial, such as the recipe to a pasta dish. The blue color of the background and the lack of emotion displayed by this sister leads the reader to believe that the disdain of the relationship described by the first sister may be one sided. In fact, the second sister ends the conversation with " I will miss you." She seems to either have no idea of the turmoil between them or simply does not give in to the anger displayed by the first sister. The music chosen for this part of the poem is predictable and relaxing.


This piece of electronic poetry was simple yet effective. The differences in color led the reader to draw conclusions about each of the sister's opinion on the relationship. The music also played a role in determining the tone of the poem. These are elements that could not be utilized if the poem was written traditionally. The poem may have been difficult to understand if the two images of the women were not present; on paper, the reader may have gotten confused that two people were talking in the poem rather than one. This poem is fairly simple and the author does not employ similes or metaphors throughout the poem When the second sister says " I will miss you" at the end of the poem, the reader is left to wonder why the relationship is so rocky between them. I found myself thinking that " I will miss you" could be taken literally as in the sister will look forward to talking to her sister the next time or it could be taken as the calm sister misses the person her angry sister used to be. This poem, although simple, may not translate well on paper and is much more effective and enjoyable as E-poetry.

The second poem, A Study in Shades, is written by Robert Kandall. When the reader first opens the poem, there are two pictures, similar to the first poem, with an older man on one side and a young women on the other side. Both pictures are created in a gray scale and are of equal darkness. There are arrows under each picture, with the first group of lines of poem under the man visible and only a single line of the poem under the women visible. The reader will read the first section of the poem under the old man first, then click the arrow the is pointing to the right under the old man to continue the poem. After click the arrow, new text will appear under the old man, and the picture of the women on the other side will fade slightly. Each time the reader goes deeper into the poem of the old man, the picture of the women on the right will fade. By the end of the poem, the picture of the women has completely gone white and she is no longer visible. These images fit perfectly with the message of the poem and enhance its meaning greatly. The poem of the old man, who appears to suffer from some type of memory loss, is describing how the image of the women sitting across from him ( who we learn later is his daughter) continues to fade into the background. He is seeing all of her features and characteristics, but he seems to be missing the big picture; he struggles to "place " her and can not recall that she is his daughter. As the poem continues, her picture fades away which is symbolic of his memory of her slipping through the cracks in his mind.

The reader will now go to the arrows under the section where the picture of the women once was. They will click through her poem just like they did the old man's poem, but this time, something different will occur. As the reader gets deeper into the poem, the picture of the old man grows darker and darker. By the last couple lines, his picture is completely black and his features are no longer visible; only his outline can be seen. The reader can not stop this process from happening as they click through the poem. The author uses alliteration with the word "black" which is used to describe how the daughter feels about her father. These feelings are reinforced by the picture getting darker and darker, an allusion to her inability to penetrate into her fathers once lucid mind. The daughter talks of the aspects of her life, which she stored with her father for safe keeping now being lost. The author does a great job in conveying the hopelessness she feels and the despair she experiences as she watches her father slip further and further away. While this poem may translate relatively well to print, the pictures do add to the message of the poem. The reader is limited ( like the first example) in their interact; they seem to be along for the ride rather than the driver.

These pieces of E-poetry are simple in comparison to other pieces we have looked at thus far. They are straightforward and reveal themselves to the reader rather than making the reader search for the answers. I personally enjoyed reading them; I think too much animation and interaction can be frustrating and take away from the message of the poem. I also enjoyed pontificating on the first poem; how did the relationship between the sisters take such a turn? Why do they seem to have such opposing feelings regarding their relationship? I enjoyed these two pieces of work more than some of the others for their simplicity and message.

URL Of A Study in Shades: See Comments
URL Of Representatives: See Comments