This responsive (or “reactive” work as described in Megan Sapnar’s essay “Reactive Media Meets E-Poetry”) is a great example of a work that reacts to user input, though I’m not sure there’s enough of a language base to connect it to poetic tradition. Translated as “In the lion’s mouth” (though I feel “In the wolf’s mouth” is more accurate) this feels more like a visual art piece than a poem and I suspect Clauss would agree, since he describes his works in Flying Puppet as “tableaux interactifs” (interactive tableau).
Regardless of classification, this is an engagingly atmospheric piece that invites interaction with a surreal payoff. Move the pointer and play with this work to discover what lies above and beneath the image and interface, considering all the layers involved. And don’t forget that you are one of those layers…
Featured in Poems That GO.
