“Taroko Gorge” by Nick Montfort
February 17, 2012 by Leonardo Flores
“The lines of this poem cascade down the screen, describing a peaceful
natural scene. Its pacing is meditative, reminiscent of some Gary
Snyder poems. Its rhythm is mostly iambic with abundant trochees at the
beginning of lines and occasional spondees to punctuate moments in the
poem. The pacing of the scrolling lines doesn’t let you stop and look
away, but won’t be too demanding, and once a line scrolls past
visibility it is gone: you cannot scroll up or down. Live the moment in
this poem for as long as it lasts, until you reach the end or realize
what’s going on… whichever comes first.The JavaScript engine for this poem inspired a number of variations
on this poem by prominent writers in the e-lit and digital humanities
community, an early glimpse is available here.”