summer

This video poem is a celebration of Summer lived well as a child who spent most of her time outdoors, sampling and savoring what nature had to offer. The poem has a headlong energy that comes from short lines full of imagery, occasional enjambment, and a of stream-of-consciousness catalog of summer activities. The animated images reinforce the verbal imagery, creating graphical associations and occasional morphs to reinforce the sense that activities are blending seamlessly from one to the next. In the still image above, for example, we are transitioning from an image of a pencil (used to write novels up on a tree) to “chewing wheat straws” in a field— and you can see the wheat fading in while the pencil morphs/fades out. The visual and narrative parallel from beginning to end create a sense of circularity for the experiences described. And why not? Days like that are worth reliving.

(Source: Leonardo Flores)

In the early days of the web, Marsha cheerfully launches a home page devoted to her favorite angels and invites them to come and play. They do, and they are not friendly. The Fall of the Site of Marsha shows three states of her site, captured in Spring, Summer, and Fall, each getting progressively darker as the angels haunt the beleaguered Marsha, reveal her husband's infidelity (from clues found on the site), and drag Marsha and her home page into madness and Gothic ruin.

(Source: Author description, Electronic Literature Collection, Vol. 1.)

The Fall of the Site of Marsha by Rob Wittig is an interactive electronic literature experience presented in the form of a late-nineties web site. The piece follows Marsha, an eccentric woman who creates a website centered around her obsession with angels. Things begin to get strange, dark, and a little creepy when the Angels Marsha loves so much make an appearance on her web site. Three different versions of Marsha’s site are available for view: Spring ’98, Summer ’98, and Fall ’98. Each version of the site is very different. The sites get progressively darker as the angels take control. At first, the page is just a goofy site about a woman’s angel obsession, but it eventually becomes nearly unrecognizable. As time goes on and the tone gets progressively darker, the site begins to fill with eerie messages from the angels. Each version of the web site is equipped with a variety of links and pages that contribute to the overall story. The user views the story organically through message boards and secret areas of the site. There is much to be discovered, from Marsha’s husband’s infidelity to sinister implications regarding her father’s death. For full effect and the complete story, each version of the site should be fully explored. The site isn't just the way the story is presented; it is the story itself. (Source: Electronic Literature Directory, http://directory.eliterature.org/node/3942)