Forgot that ratings don't show up as comments and I wanted my praise to be on the front page:
Beautiful poem, that through both its words and its formatting does a phenomenal job bringing one into the experience and frustration and longing of a writer with dyslexia. As someone who's not dyslexic but DOES have aphasia that has worsened with age (and/or maybe just stress), I found myself not just empathizing but really thinking about my own struggles with words and my struggle to hold-on-tight.
(SPOILER WARNING HERE, WHICH I THINK DOES APPLY HERE)
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I wanted to add something about the form. As I and most others have noted the form itself gets the point across perfectly, but it's not just the shape or readability of the letters. At first, I was fascinated that it was written as "hypertext" literature, since it's a very simple, kind of "traditional" form (are we old enough to call things old in digital non-linear literature?), and therefore most people choose something cooler looking these days. But the simple typeface (like a console) and the links are a clear invitation for you to not just click forward but very literally engage with the text -- and once again that specific choice really hammers home the awareness of every word.
I feel like students will be writing essays about this poem, or could. It's amazing.
Vulnerable and beautiful poem, that really cleverly plays with form to demonstrate its points. Ben Roswell is a brilliant poet, this doesn't disappoint.
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Forgot that ratings don't show up as comments and I wanted my praise to be on the front page:
Beautiful poem, that through both its words and its formatting does a phenomenal job bringing one into the experience and frustration and longing of a writer with dyslexia. As someone who's not dyslexic but DOES have aphasia that has worsened with age (and/or maybe just stress), I found myself not just empathizing but really thinking about my own struggles with words and my struggle to hold-on-tight.
(SPOILER WARNING HERE, WHICH I THINK DOES APPLY HERE)
.
.
.
I wanted to add something about the form. As I and most others have noted the form itself gets the point across perfectly, but it's not just the shape or readability of the letters. At first, I was fascinated that it was written as "hypertext" literature, since it's a very simple, kind of "traditional" form (are we old enough to call things old in digital non-linear literature?), and therefore most people choose something cooler looking these days. But the simple typeface (like a console) and the links are a clear invitation for you to not just click forward but very literally engage with the text -- and once again that specific choice really hammers home the awareness of every word.
I feel like students will be writing essays about this poem, or could. It's amazing.
This is a great poem, both in its content and in its form
Vulnerable and beautiful poem, that really cleverly plays with form to demonstrate its points. Ben Roswell is a brilliant poet, this doesn't disappoint.