Words In Flight Banner

Structure In "Dispossession" by Robert Kendall, the reader reads the poem according to her own choices of links she will take. This text resembles the form of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books, reactive in presentation, where the next bit of text read is a direct and obvious result of the choice made by the reader.

The title of the piece comments on this phonemonon, which relates to much hypertext. "Dispossession" can refer to the author's lack of control and ownership over the text. It seems that the reader has much control over the ordering of the poem since her choice directs it, and since each text link option is part of the text to which it leads, the reader has some kind of indication as to what aspect of the poem she might be heading towards.

In addition, the title can refer to the removal of the author's voice or self in the poem. 'Possessed' has connotations of the idea of being controlled by some kind of demon figure. Therefore 'dispossessed' means the undoing of this control.

And where does that leave the text? At one time controlled by some sort of demon, and now not, the text seems resultantly somewhat disoriented, scattered over the screen, ununiform in color, reaching in many directions to tell it's story.

The movement of the poem relates to the animated gif everpresent on the left side of the poem, the ocean, or waves, which don't really resemble either. The text comes in waves, obviously part of a much greater body; but instead of rushing in and trailing back out like an ocean, the poem moves in a jagged manner, in imitation of the "waves."

The images and movement and color in this piece serve to pace the reader, and give an (awkward) atmosphere to the poem, fitting of the piece-meal nature of the work.

© 2000 Shari Margolin