Poetry's Next Wave

Technology is allowing us to reinvent old forms of telling stories in exciting new ways. An experimental venue, Born Magazine, explores the connections between literature and visual arts. Writers are paired with graphic designers, and the collaborations result in interactive poems, where words flicker and float above Flash-animated surreal landscapes: a static-filled television screen, a misty pasture, or a menacing, sepia-toned sky.

The magazine's name reflects the creation of highly original work that comes from melding traditional and new forms of art and literature. It's an all-volunteer, free quarterly publication. And for those, like the writer Russell Baker, who believe contemporary poetry reads "like coded messages passing between lonely aliens on a hostile world," this is a perfect way to access that strange planet.

See Born Magazine's website