Lines, Flow and Directions
A Short Collections of Poems and Art
A Short Collections of Poems and Art
(Mar-Apr 2020)
Introduction
‘Of lines, flow and direction’ is an attempt to challenge the linear fashion way that we read poetry. When looking at the words itself, the poem may not make much sense, but along with it, an illustration overlapping with it, marks the direction of the flow. This was inspired by the notion of how one must view a system; not breaking down and viewing its parts, but to view it as a whole. Here, art and poetry is one system. To read the poems, it must be started from the tail to the arrow and followed to the head. The poems in this collection are based on topics I learnt over the course. This includes chaos theory, as well as simultaneity, a topic I picked up while reading Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc by Arthur Miller.
I have placed the poem without the illustration along with the final poetry and art, to make it easy for the readers to compare the two ways. I wanted to break down the left-to-right and up-to-down way of reading poetry in English. I have also added a concept note after each poem to explain my thought process.
Flow
Concept Note
While ‘Flow’ does make sense without the illustration, the actual poem I wanted to show follows the flow of the river-like lines. It is based on the concept that many systems with small, almost immeasurable changes in the initial parameters can have very different unpredictable outcomes.
Foresight
Concept Note
‘Foresight’ also talks about small changes in the initial parameters of a system that bring out different unpredictable outcomes. This effect is commonly known as the butterfly effect. The poem is referring to how we can try to predict the future, but this effect reminds us that it can easily change. The illustration has a grey arrow that marks the flow of the poem but with the red, it can be doubled as a butterfly. I chose a spiral flow for this poem, as a reference to a tornado, as with it, the whole image is a reference to Edward Lorenz’s quote: ‘can a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil cause a tornado in Texas?’
Cycle
Concept Note
‘Cycle’ is based on the concept of feedback. Feedback is a concept where the output of a
system becomes the next input of the system. I compared this to the earth, the earth’s nutrients sprout life and when life dies, it decays to feed the earth. This goes on and on, the cycle does not end. I tried to show that in this poem. It has a beginning, but it does not have an ending. It loops back to the beginning and goes on and on. The sentence never ends. The illustration is a circle to show the looping of the feedback, and the irregular thickness is to show the fluctuations that happen in a cycle. The arrow is also doubled as the leaves of a sapling, a symbolism of the life sprouted by the earth.
A Four Dimensional Simultaneity
Concept Note
‘A four-dimensional simultaneity’ is based on, as the title suggests, simultaneity, which is a topic I came across while studying the similarities of cubism, and Einstein’s relativity. From what I understood the aspect of simultaneity in cubism is bringing our different perspectives of an object onto one surface. I tried to show this using different time frames as different perspectives. Especially since the topic is simultaneity, I decided to not keep an order for this poem. There is no order in which this poem is read, because all of it is happening at the same time.
