Poetry: Is There an App for That?

          There’s only one poetry podcast I really listen to regularly, and it’s the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Off the Shelf. A few weeks ago, they had an interesting installment where host Curtis Fox and guest Tess Taylor took a look at Faber and Faber and Touch Press’s new release of an app for T.S. Eliot’s classic poem The Waste Land. I had never heard of an app for a particular poem, so I was a bit intrigued to hear how publishers are adapting new technology to attract a new generation of readers.

Page from Eliot's original manuscript, with Ezra Pound's handwritten edits.

          I have to admit the discussion left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. All in all, the product did seem to be loaded with extras – the poem itself (with or without additional notes), the original edited manuscript, commentaries by such luminaries as Seamus Heaney, and video readings by several esteemed actors – and I’m sure there will be diehard fans of the poem will find plenty to enjoy (even if the app was being sold at a hefty $13.99). However, for me at least, nothing really stands out about it. I remember in the 90s when poetry CD-ROMs loaded with similar materials were being touted as a step forward, and I doubt now that many people even remember them now. I don’t really see what will make these apps that much different.

In a way, this app reminds me of DVDs: we initially get wowed by all the included commentaries, the deleted scenes, the outtakes – when all we really end up caring about in the long run is the film itself. And nice, I’m sure, as The Waste Land is in tablet form, the poem by any other name would still be as sweet.

What intrigued me more about this particular podcast was the discussion Fox and Taylor had after they were done reviewing the app. Fox said he could see a time in the foreseeable future where apps became a standard delivery system for poets publishing their works. Taylor countered that she felt people who read would continue to turn to the printed page as a unique ecosystem to escape from all the screen time we are spending increasingly in our lives.

As in most discussions in this vein, the jury is still out on what’s really going to happen. Certainly, longstanding predictions of the demise of the printed book have been greatly exaggerated. And yet, the inroads that have been made by electronic media in recent years simply cannot be ignored. Even somebody like me, who for years has been a luddite defender of the printed page, am starting to cave to the ever-cheapening temptations and advantages of devices like e-readers. In fact, I’m beginning to realize that in some ways, our devotion to the printed page is out of character with many poetry enthusiasts. As a whole, we’re a conscientious bunch – shouldn’t we be sprinting to the “green” pastures of electronic media? What’s stopping us?

I obviously don’t have the answers, but I think part of it lies in what I was implying in a post a couple weeks ago. As we continued to be drowned by this age’s flood of information, we’re fearful of those words we hold dearest to us becoming nothing more than mere information. Poetry holds language sacred, and any change that seems to potentially cheapen that sacredness must be confronted. Perhaps holding to the poem or book as artifact is a way of doing this.

And yet, as I was saying of The Waste Land above, isn’t a poem in any format just as sweet? I suppose it’s debatable, but essentially, the text of the poem remains the same in any media.

Overall, Fox may be on to something, and I believe poetry must come to grips with technological change, particularly if it wants to stay at all relevant to new generations of readers. There may be a time in the not-so-distant future where new volumes of poetry turn increasingly to formats like apps. If so, what are the implications? Would a poet by necessity need to be a better performer for any audio/video functions? How much extra marketing and design would need to go in to make the final product appealing? Or would the poetry itself be enough for those wishing to read it?

It is this last question that makes me pause. I do think readers of poetry will continue to come for the poetry itself. And while poetry may have to come to grips with electronic formats, I think the words are enough to stand on their own. Any extras that might be delivered in something like an app will likely not be what attracts poetry readers.

But enough rambling fence straddling. These are strange and exciting times. Let’s just see what happens.