Executable verses and colourful commands: debates around code poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/umatica.2025.v8i8.21791Keywords:
code poetry, functionality, electronic literature, materialist poetics, estrangementAbstract
Code poetry, written in programming languages, belongs to electronic literature. In it, the reader faces the source code rather than the executed result. The main debate within “codework” revolves around executability: whether the poem can be interpreted by the machine and generate an output. Traditionally, works that compile and produce visual or verbal effects are valued more, as they engage both machine processes and human reading. This article revisits the discussion through ./code --poetry (2023) by Daniel Holden and Chris Kerr, arguing that every screen reading is a surface reading, even when using programming languages. It then explores its link with concrete poetry and the OuLiPo movement, highlighting how, by using languages designed for unambiguous commands, code poetry interrupts their usual function and exposes the hidden materiality of these tools.
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