Alireza Mahzoon

“Snowball” by Alireza Mahzoon

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Open “Snowball” by Alireza Mahzoon

Screen capture from “Snowball” by Alireza Mahzoon. Gray-colored screen with words in the background. White verses are visible over this background. Text: “Snow sees the snows./ Thinkings stop./ Fallings talk falling./ that the falling snowball covered - / Thinking uses fallings./ Thinkings feel./ Falling talks to failing./ snow the falling - / Falling feels the thinkings./ Snows see the pedestrians./ falling the falling snowball covered - / Pedestrain thinks the pedestrain. / Fallings see the pedestrains./ between the falling snowball covered - / Thinking uses the pedestrain./ Pedestrains you./ Fallings stop./ Snowball/ Taroko Gorge/ Alireza Mahzooh”.

This generative poem about snow, slipping, and falling is aggressively scheduled to produce a sensation of motion and slippage. One cannot keep up for very long as a reader of this poem, but this is not a big problem because reading a sampling of any of its verses will give you an idea of what the poem is about. Like narrative comic strips and soap operas, there is plenty of redundance built into its structure, so you can join in, leave it, and rejoin at any time.

This is true of all the other “Taroko Gorge” remixes, but it is a realization that doesn’t come to readers as quickly or clearly because they are all generating at a rate that is comfortable to readers: “Taroko Gorge” generates a line of poetry every 1200 milliseconds (1.2 seconds), and I would guess the other remixes didn’t modify this parameter. Mahzoon’s poem generates a line every 400 milliseconds, and its hectic result is clear. It is also the one with the fewest words in its data set, so it takes the least time to understand its point.

You’ll find your legs on this slippery slope of a poem.