Critical Response- Taroko Gorge

This form of poetry was really frustrating to me at the beginning.  I hate to feel like I’m not in control and the text goes by and disappears quickly.  If you don’t catch the words, you miss them and there is no going back.  Although it is slow enough to read, the realization that once the text “falls off” the screen, it won’t be coming back is a bit unsettling to me.

I felt like the poem had layers, and the content of the poem was actually really interesting once I got past the stress of words falling off the screen.  There seems to be a reoccurring pattern, although I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.  Words repeat themselves throughout the poem, specifically: hum, relax, flow, vein, and cool, among others.

It’s almost as if the same words are being used over and over, just rearranged.  If this is the case, it’s really a cool and creative idea.  The other factor that was different for me was the fact that the poem seemed to be never-ending.  This was also an issue for me, as I tend to like things to have a beginning and an end- a lack of being “complete” is also unsettling to me.  It reminded me of singing karaoke to a song you don’t really know, and once the words flash on the screen you can’t get them back.

The green background adds a calming effect to the stress I was feeling.  It goes along with the natural theme of the poem, and kept me hanging on.  I am a very visual person so small things such as color really matter when it comes to how I react (or don’t react) to something.  I let the poem “play” for about 20 minutes, and I can’t figure out if it is continuing, or just the same poem starting over.  This poem is an example of something unconventional that grabs your attention.  It was almost like a game to me- like how long will it take for me to keep reading until I surrender failure.