Errand Upon Which We Came

Errand Upon Which We Came is "a Hypermedia poem about reading." -- Stephanie Strickland

In this work, "animation is used to establish links and disjunctions between images of moving objects in the natural world (e.g. frogs and butterflies) and the lexical and figural dynamics of the poem. These visual-kinetic images heighten the tensions among the meaning—mobilizing acts of 'seeing an image,' 'watching a movement,' and 'reading a word.' The work also employs cursor-activated elements, such as 'touching' and 'reading.' Errand reflects on the nature of language and of reading, and these self-reflexive elements are embedded in considerations of how protocols of reading shape our consciousness. In calling attention to gaps between 'movement' and 'meaning,' between 'reading' and 'acting,' Errand grounds its kinetic poetics in concerns of ethics and cultural politics." -- from Electronic Literature Directory