I decided, for my first piece, to use a stanza of a song I love. Song is just poetry in motion, right? After having an introduction to Microsoft Powerpoint in class, I felt like I had a basic ( and by basic I mean 3rd grade level) understanding of how to create my E-poem. The poem that I chose is about how children who are still learning about the world have very different views than adults about topics such as homelessness. The author in this poem is describing how she was shocked to see a homeless person on the sheet. She wondered how others around her seemed unaffected by this occurrence but it stopped her small little world in its tracks. She then goes on to talk about how, through our socialization, we learn to just keep “ moving our feet” and ignore the things we really should care about. I wanted to create a general feeling of hurry in the poem yet find a way to distinguish the words of the author from the world in which she lives, which is fast-paced. I began by finding a picture of a busy street and setting that to the b
ackground of my slide. I then took the first line of the poem, “ I remember the first time I saw someone “and put it in a text box at the bottom left side of the screen behind a women who was walking quickly.I then had to decide how I wanted my text to enter the screen. Going with my previous ideas about how I wanted to poem to turn out, I decided to have it come up from the bottom slowly. I highlighted the text and then I went to the Animations tab and then to Custom Animations. A box appeared on the right with numerous options as to how the text could appear on the screen such as " Splash, Random Bars, Split, Wedge, and Wipe." The list goes on. Before this assignment, I truly had no idea as to how many options there were for the entrance of text! It was easy to choose which one I wanted; I simply chose "Ascend" and then I went to the option for speed on the right and chose "Medium." I originally tried slow ( the options were very slow,slow,medium,fast or very fast) but I thought that was TOO slow and the reader would get bored waiting for the text to appear. I then created another text box and placed it after the women which read ' lying on the cold street.' I chose to have this one in bold font to really hit the point home and to have it come in through the "Blinds" effect; I didn't want to make this one fancy because it is intended to evoke sorrow. I also wanted to add sound, which was somewhat difficult to achieve. I wanted to use the sound of a busy street, but there was nothing similar to that in the pre-loaded options. Of course, I could have uploaded a sound of my own, but that seemed like a long process which I did not want to invest the time in experiencing. My first slide was complete!
For my second slide, the lines were " I though, I just can't walk past you, this can't be true." At first I was a little lost as to what to put as a picture, but then I decided on a literal interpretation of the text. I chose a picture of a homeless person. Naturally, there was no pr
e-loaded pictured for that, so I had to upload my own. I was surprised as to how easy it was to put an image on a slide that wasn't in clip art. After I had my image, I created my text box again, with all the words, and chose to have them "grow and turn" which made the words appear almost one at a time without it seeming like they were separate thoughts.For my third slide, I decided to get a little more involved with the piece. As intimidated as I was, I decided to utilize the hyperlink feature. I wanted to experiment with a hyperlink that would bring the reader to the next slide.The reader would have to click on the last set of feet in order to move on in the poem, which to me, was symbolic of the last step a person would normally take past a homeless person before they were out of view ( hey, I warned you I'm not creative) and out of mind. I created my new slide and copied 3 identical pictures of footprints. I then added my text, which was " But I learned by example, to just keep moving my feet." and then I began to tackle the hyperlink. Unfortuantly, this was easier said than done. I was met with a screen of options ( pictured below)that I had no idea how to get past.
After some looking around and choice words, I saw how easy it really was. There was an option on the left side that said " Place in This Document" where I could choose the next slide. I immediately felt a sense of accomplishment and moved on to my last and final slide.
This was my grand finale! I looked through a couple options on PowerPoint as to what else I could incorporate into my poem but didn't find anything that quite fit what I was looking for. I decided to try the sound again. This time, I was going to read the final text of the poem rather than look for pre-loaded audio. This is where I had my most fun. I understood the concept of E-poetry before this assignment, but I think this is where I first began to truly understand how different elements can effect the meaning of the poem. I wanted to record the words " It's amazing the things we all learn to do" and it took me a good 10 minutes of pondering how I wanted to say them and another 20 trials before I said it the way I wanted it! I realized that I can say those few words so many different ways. I can be sad, surprised, disappointed, reflective, ... the list just goes on. The tool for sound was really easy to use; as seen below, it was a few simple buttons.
After I decided on saying my line in a disappointed tone, I had to find a picture to go along with it. I wasn't going to use words in this slide because the reader was going to hear them. I chose to do a picture representing conformity. In my picture, there are many red balls and one blue ball. The picture has no words. I think it should be noted that throughout the course of my poem, my intentions changed a bit. Although it was short, I decided to make the end a bit of a commentary on stepping outside of traditional actions and choosing your own path. The song lyrics/poem that I chose does allude to that, but I chose to allow the reader to see a picture and draw their own conclusions based on the picture given.
After using Microsoft Powerpoint to create my poem, I would have to conclude that it is relatively easy to use, even for someone who has not worked with it before. I did not know how to introduce sound or a hyperlink before this assignment, but I was able to figure out how to incorporate them with relative ease. The tabs at the top of the page are pretty descriptive and lead the reader in the right direction most of the time. My only advice is to save frequently because at one point, I deleted an entire slide with one click. Luckily for me, I know how to use the "undo" button but for someone who is a bit less computer-savvy, that might be a disaster.
Based on my creative nature, I did enjoy this assignment and I thought the creative process was enjoyable. My poem was relativity straightforward but it took me almost two hours to complete. This is not the fault of the program, but rather my fault. I experimented with many different elements of the poem before deciding which one I wanted to choose, so it did take a considerable amount of time. I can see how someone could easily get carried away in the many features of this program, but I would say that I did not. I think adding too many elements to E-poetry takes away from the meaning behind the poem; readers should be able to interact with the poem on a straight-forward basis ( in my opinion) to prevent them from getting discouraged from reading further. I think PowerPoint added to the creative process well, especially with the sound. I was able to put my own twist on the poem and express it how I saw fit. I also enjoyed choosing pictures to accompany the words on the page, although I used a literal interpretation of the words.
In terms of frustration, I don't think I experienced much when creating this work. I would have liked to add the sound of a busy street, but that was not an option that was pre-loaded. As I mentioned, somebody with more time and expertise than me could utilize that feature, but it just wasn't something I chose to do. I also would have liked to use moving pictures on my E-poem. I believe that too can be utilized in the program, but I could not figure out how. As I've said multiple times already, I really enjoyed recording my own sound which is something I normally would have shrugged off as too difficult.
Ultimately, I think the software changed my muse a bit. I don't think it enhanced it or stiffled it as much as it did point me in a direction I had not considered before. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the ability to record my own voice saying the last line made me re-think the poem and all the different ways those simple words can be spoken. I think, if given the choice, I would use a pen and paper to create a poem FIRST and then use powerpoint to present it after it was completed. I feel like if I were to write a poem using Powerpoint to start with, I would never be able to finish because I would have so many different influences and elements pulling me in opposite directions. Of course, after I wrote the poem I could change it a bit depending on what inspired me with PowerPoint. I think Powerpoint offers a user who has limited computer ability many great options to create poetry and it can act as a great beginner/intermediate program for those interested in becoming E-Poets.
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