This poem is mapped onto an oddly lit, distorted image of a young man’s face that looks unconscious, drunk, maybe dead. The interface is simple: the reader drags the image and zooms in and out (predating Prezi’s ZUI by about 8 years) to be able to read the texts arranged on the face. With the use of grids and sounds making it reminiscent of the Esper machine in Blade Runner, this interface turns the reader into a kind of detective, examining this image for clues, texts, and insight on this emotional wreck of a speaker. Highlighted words in the poem (and in a navigation menu) trigger kinetic and responsive textual structures, each of which arranges lines in different ways, inviting readers to figure them out and the insights they provide. The language of this poem contains abundant references to scale (in relation to the body), interiority (in relation to the mind and intimacy), and the reader (or whomever the speaker addresses) who seems to be trying to break through to this troubled character. What will you discover in your examination of this textual body?

Featured in Dreaming Methods.