Ergodic Poem

An ergodic poem requires the reader to do more than move passively from the first line to the last. The reader must choose, search, leap, rearrange, combine, or otherwise construct the poem. Its defining feature is nontrivial reader labor: the reader operates the text as though it were a device.

Instructions for Rebuilding the Night

Do not read these lines in their printed order.

Begin with the shortest line.

Read the line containing a color.

Add the line whose final word rhymes with that color.

Turn the page upside down before reading the line in brackets.

Arrange the remaining lines from the most distant location to the nearest.

Take the first word of each selected line to reveal the final sentence.

Light crosses ten miles of winter road.

Night.

Waits beneath the bed, a small star.

Lost beyond the moon, a signal burns.

[YOUR HAND TURNS THE PAGE TOWARD DAWN.]

Where the cold glass makes old rumors true.

Gathers blue frost on the locked window.

Reconstructed Poem

Night.

Gathers blue frost on the locked window.

Where the cold glass makes old rumors true.

Your hand turns the page toward dawn.

Lost beyond the moon, a signal burns.

Light—crosses ten miles of winter road.

Waiting beneath the bed, a small star.

Final Sentence

Night gathers where your lost light— waiting.

Explanation

The reader begins with “Night” because it is the shortest line. The line containing the color blue comes next. The following line ends with true, which rhymes with blue. The bracketed line must then be read after the page is turned upside down.

The remaining three lines contain explicit measures of distance. “Beyond the moon” is farthest, “ten miles” is next, and “beneath the bed” is nearest. Arranging them from greatest distance to least completes the reconstructed poem.

The first words of the selected lines are:

Night / Gathers / Where / Your / Lost / Light / Waiting

Together they form the final sentence:

Night gathers where your lost light waiting.

The poem requires physical and intellectual participation. The reader compares line lengths, identifies a color, finds a rhyme, rotates the page, evaluates distance, rearranges the lines, and extracts a concealed sentence. Ordinary top-to-bottom reading does not reveal the complete work.