codetry
By May Hathaway & Alena Graedon
We have used computer code as a form for poetry that also reinforces its content. By deploying functions and conditionals to drive narrative, we interrogate the value of art vs. other modes of expression.
narrative.c
By May Hathaway
# include <stdio.h>
# include <string.h>
# include <stdbool.h>
bool am_i_selling_out;
bool good_person;
void produce_art() {
int pride = 10;
printf("aren't you glad that you didn't sell out? ");
printf("aren't you?");
}
void exist() {
printf("you are a person. ");
}
void exist_upgraded() {
int pride = 0;
printf("you are a person with money. ");
}
int main() {
if (am_i_selling_out == true) {
exist_upgraded();
}
if (am_i_selling_out == false) {
good_person = true;
}
if (good_person == true) {
exist();
}
return 0;
}
#/usr/bin/python/biological_weapon[1]
By Alena Graedon
def permutations(elements): #the if len(elements) == 0: #the virus yield elements #the virus they else: #the virus they killed for result in permutations(elements[1:]): #the virus they killed the elders for i in range(len(elements)): #the virus they killed the elders with yield result[:i] + elements[0:1] + result #the virus they killed the elders with #was a biological weapon
[1] This poem was heavily inspired by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s “//three_last_words” from Travesty Generator
Performance
May Hathaway
May Hathaway is a writer from New York City. Her work is published or forthcoming in Hobart After Dark, PANK and Vagabond City Lit and has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the National YoungArts Foundation. An alumna of the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program and the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, she will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.
Alena Graedon
Alena Graedon's first novel, The Word Exchange, was a New York Times Editors' Choice and Paperback Row pick and selected as a best novel of 2014 by Kirkus, Electric Literature and Tor. It has been translated into eight languages. Graedon’s work has been published in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, NewYorker.com, VICE, The Believer, Guernica and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross, Jentel, The Lighthouse Works, VCCA, and The Vermont Studio Center. Graedon is an Assistant Professor of English at Monmouth University and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
