“Wotclock” by John Cayley

Like “Translation” and other works by Cayley, this poem can be described as an installation piece: it is designed to run indefinitely. “Wotclock” uses texts and images from What We Will combined with speaking clock algorithms designed by Cayley in Hypercard since 1995. (For an early visual poem which informs this piece, see “The Speaking Clock.”)

You can play this in your computer, read its generated language attentively, and explore its gorgeous panoramic photography (courtesy of Douglas Cape), but I suggest you “install” it in a screen in your home and let it run continuously, reading it from time to time, allowing its time-telling permutations to permeate your days and nights.

Featured in The Electronic Literature Collection, Volume 1.