J. R. Carpenter’s texts are simultaneously very interesting and challenging. They remind me of math problems in which I need to figure out the relation between different given numbers in order to be able to solve the problem. Here, I attempt to find the relationship between the presented pictures that contain historical, geological and geographical facts and the written sentences or short paragraphs. For example, in “The Cape”, the motion pictures do not merely keep us, the explorers, engaged with the text as we attempt to understand why a photograph or a map is moving and to know what kind of meanings are being generated, but also give a sense of time, movement, progress, changes, etc., all of which are reflected in the text.

In “The Cape”, after narrating a story and connecting it to the changeable geological facts, Carpenter concludes with the assertion that her story is fictional: “Cape Cod is a real place, but the events and characters of THE CAPE are fictional. The photographs have been retouched. The diagrams are not to scale.” Carpenter adds “I generally read from left to right, but you can read in any order you like.” Thus, the author or the creator of the text is unconcerned with how a reader might read, understand, or generate meanings out of her text. Similar to Cecilia Vicuna, by her detachment I believe that Carpenter is encouraging her readers to personalize their own various experiences of the text.

Carpenter clearly leads us through the illustrations, maps, words, photographs, etc. to explore certain places digitally and digital places in a literary way. I am unable, in fact, to classify the readings of this week or confirm their literary genres. Yet, I believe that these texts can be anything except poetry.

If I were to describe Cecilia Vicuna’s poetry, I would describe it as indirect, deep, complex, humane and “hybrid” (Dr. Sherwood’s word).  In her poems, Vicuna mentions geographical places, narrates several stories, and presents spirituality in a distinct way “The first prayer ever recorded.. said .. ‘let me see your beauty’” (182). Vicuna is not merely performing sounds, words or poetry but also silence and nothingness. I listened to her recorded poem “Thread of the Voice” and I was amazed by her spontaneity and representation of the opposites, the abstract and concrete. I find some of the sounds she makes while performing annoying but I feel she means to be this way, to disturb our quietness, thoughtlessness and monotony and consequently elevate us from being recipients to participants in her poetic experience.

I like the way she easily moves between languages, differentiates between them and then reconnects them. Accordingly, I, as a reader, have become eager to know the meanings of the non-English phrases in order to better understand and fully live her experience. I read the poems before reading the introduction because I did not want to be under the influence of other people’s thoughts. For me, I felt from the beginning that she tends to historize language/s: “.. and then words as I perceive them.. they are time.. simply time.. and sound written.. and sound breathing” (the online transcript). Or may be she perceives language as a site for human’s history “we will be only voice.. Navigating” (141).