Interactive advice from 1926
If you read my earlier take on how leading interactive experiences and executives relate closely to great poetry, this next bit won’t come as any surprise.
If you haven’t, I’m a firm believer that poets were (and still remain) some of the worlds best thinkers on how people, societies, and technology interact in a succinct and emotional way.
As interactive professionals, narrative is becoming the next big thing, and poetry teaches a lot about creating UX that hits home fast.
These ideas seemed completely validated last night as I read one of my favorites, E.E. Cummings. He wrote this poem, since feeling is first, way back in 1926. While obviously a love poem, it also spoke to me about looking beyond tactics and standards and syntax to achieve an experience more meaningful for the reader (read: user). Kinda like what Jared Spool was saying at SXSW.
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the worldmy blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don’t cry
–the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids’ flutter which sayswe are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life’s not a paragraphAnd death i think is no parenthesis
EE: you’re a lyrical gangsta!
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