Moved by Digital Poetry: How the movement of text evokes emotion in ‘The Last Day of Betty Nkomo’.

The digital format allows for a literal movement of text in poetry, that the print medium does not permit. Digital poetry can utilize this opportunity for movement in a number of ways to add to the emotive power of the poem. A powerful demonstration of the movement of text being altered to evoke strong emotion is evidenced in Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ digital poem ‘The Last Day of Betty Nkomo’. The poem itself runs for only around a minute and seems to describe a moment in the life of an old dying woman Betty Nkomo. There is also a potential second perspective in the poem, signified by a change in text from black on white to white on black.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries stated themselves that, “We present our work the way we do to make it indeed more difficult” (quoted in Pressman, Digital Modernism, 2014). This feeling of difficulty is achieved through the speed at which words appear and disappear on the screen. Unlike a great deal of digital literature, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries’ poems do not allow for a level of interactivity. Words flash in front of the reader and they do not have the ability to stop and start this process, simply watch. Each word lasts on screen for only seconds and moves away, and this can make it difficult but also forces the reader’s attention, “if we are not extremely focused, we run the risk of missing words or perspectival shifts.” (Ciccoricco, Focalization and Digital Fiction, 2012)

The transient nature of the text also invites the reader to feel rather than think about the poem, in a sense the words wash over the reader, without time to analyse or discern meaning from each word before the next appears. Therefore the repetition of certain words may serve to subconsciously evoke specific emotions, as they obviously appear in front of the reader’s eyes more. For example, Betty repeats the words “I will” over and over, this gives her a  motivated and determined characteristic and serves to create and reinforce an inspired feeling in the reader, at least for the first half of the poem.

Along with repetition, the background music of the poem and how the words move in relation to this is another important feature. Over the course of the poem, the words seem to appear in time with the rhythm of the music. Where this is used most poignantly is when a voice in the song actually sounds like it is saying the words that are presented on screen. This only occurs at one point of the poem, with the words “Ha! Ha! Ha!”. These words are spoken by the mysterious secondary character, perhaps even a more negative inner consciousness of Betty’s. At this point in the poem, it is almost as if this other voice is laughing at Betty’s aspirations, mocking her. What the synchronous relationship between the text and vocals does is put particular emphasis on these words. This emphasis has the effect of undoing the motivational feel that had been created by the first half, as well as making the mockery even more pointed and biting.