Poetic Inspiration and a New Art Form of the People

Interesting discussion this beautiful sunny afternoon with nine friends about raw poetic inspiration and the synergies (or not) when text is juxtaposed with graphics. So if you might possibly be interested, take a minute or so to find out:

The exploration began with a short text on the wellspring of poetic inspiration: from whence does it flow?

 (The Unknown Vessel, by Stephen Rowe)

You are a vessel

That you know not

We all are

And discovery comes

To those who

Not knowing

What is there

Simply let it flow

From that Unfathomable

Inner place

Where it resides

The group of nine unanimously agreed this text is indeed a poem, but that need not have been the case, and we could have proceeded as we did by pulling the ‘rabbit‘ out of the hat and asking:

OK, now that you see the same words in a more graphical context below, does the work seem more poetic, or not?

This is where our inquiry became really interesting:

The Unknown Vessel, text by Stephen Rowe

Illustration by Max Liebert, from Ludwig Fulda's Aladin und die Wunderlampe

(Aladdin in the Magic Garden)

Most answered that yes, the beautiful graphic was synergistic and the poem felt more poetic in that context. But one participant felt that the unadorned reading was more direct and that the graphical context distracted from the language… And yet another was able to articulate a polarity: reading the initial text connected her more directly to the language while the graphically enhanced version focused her more on the bounteous flow; perhaps equally poetic, but in different ways.

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I have been especially interested in these questions because for several years (since 2011) I have been juxtaposing graphics and text in synergistic or ironic contexts to create heightened meaning – something that could scarcely have been done prior to the internet's graphical feast. So very much to work with, and yet the opportunities are so neglected.

Of course the ubiquitous internet memes are legion, so these “found art” opportunities are not all lost, but I have seen almost no “real people” I know exploiting the possibilities, despite so many people snapping so many photos and having so much to say!

But I believe in time more people will see as I do; that this is a New Art Form of the people capable of conjuring personal satisfaction and significant revelation, as I have found over the past several years.

Note: For an extended example of these text/graphic juxtapositions see The Saga of Geezer Blue, a pseudonym by which I am known by some.