Slow Poetics
Amber Rose Seppi
In reaction to our speed-obsessed society, where everything has been degraded to a quick and shallow race, Slow Poetics is a reminder that there is much to be gained by taking a moment to slow down. It is also an argument that not everything is suited for speed. The principles of Slow Poetics are manifested in a designed five-step experience that immerses the reader in the subject matter by slowing them right down. Each step is a platform containing the Slow Poetics Manifesto as well as carefully selected classical poetry. These poems, ranging from works by futurist Loy to Bukowski, Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Nabokov, all explore speed in a beautiful way and are assigned to forms accordingly. All forms are fashioned through close consideration of the object’s physicality, typographic landscape, and musicality. Various elements and design strategies such as the Spritz technique (a contemporary speed reading technique) to a 22.5 foot scroll that is accompanied by a magnifying glass, dictates the delivery speed. The forms get progressively slower and require more physical interaction. In contrast to Ward’s “The Crystal Goblet”, which argues that type should achieve immediacy through invisibility, Slow Poetics recognizes beauty in methods of communication that strive for organic, gradual and rich content absorption. One must get very close to the text to unearth it. Poetry is not static but is transcendent, meditative and dynamic. We must use human hands and eyes to shape the journey through reading and through life itself.