A bi-product of any new technology in the age of communication, is often the emergence of a new artform, dictated by a strict set of rules, usually enforced by the limitations of the medium itself.
Matters such as memory and screen size, etc., can dictate the form of expression, and thus establish a formal set of rules to work with. Like a modern Haiku, as often happens in human communication, restrictions have the paradoxical effect of nurturing creativity.
One of the new forms of self-expression - the 'Facebook post' - is currently called the 'what's on your mind?' box at the top of the user’s page. Commonly, messages of everyday banalities are posted, which then appear across all the ‘walls’ of the user’s friends.
Like text messages, and before them, telexes and morse code, there is a restriction on the amount of expression possible in this emergent medium. As in texting, the Facebook posts are usually unambiguous ( but unlike texting, can contrastingly also work well when deliberately cryptic ). Messages can be compressed using the now orthodox appropriation of non-language symbols and numbers.
Working within these constraints, they can sometimes exhibit a spontaneous creativity, and also an inherently existential, merit.
There is no greater example of the mastery of this protean form of writing, than Michael Dobbins of Stourport, Worcestershire, England. In his brief communications, Mr. Dobbins can somehow telegraph the hopes, the dreams, and, yes, the despair, of an entire civilization.
Criticism and Response.
1a ) Take the following example, widely-acknowledged as the true debut of the auteur:
My cat has just had a shit ( 15 April at 22:34 )
A clever reference to animist cultures of pre-Christian times, a meta-layer of meaning is established. A totemic symbol in many ancient cultures, the figure of a feline harks back to ancient Egypt and pre-Conquest South America. The skilfully-evoked dual-meaning - that Michael’s cherished household pet, once worshipped by ancient civilizations, has enjoyed a satisfying bowel-movement - instills a feeling of well-being in the reader, as we empathise with this noblest of beasts.
1b ) Compare and contrast with the much less disciplined example of:
Why does my cat come in to have a shit in his litter tray then go back out again??? ( 15 March at 11:13 )
One can see that in this earlier attempt, the meter is non-rhythmic and hurried, and the imagery, though consistent with established tropes, is somewhat laboured. Does the litter tray mean a litter tray, or is it an allegory of what may be inflicted upon Mankind by an indifferent and violent 'Nature'?
2 ) The many disciplines and philosophies of modern science are also inferred, as a way of underlining Man’s uneasy relationship with the cosmos. Observe the variable tenses in the following example:
Michael Dobbins Is going to have a shit and I've taken the newspaper with me
( 8 hours ago )
This clearly mocks the scientific establishment’s failure to find the unifying principles that bring together the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics.
It is also a pun on the quasi-religious act of faith behind the Schrodinger’s Cat scenario. Namely: how can Michael be going to have a shit in the future, if the act of taking the newspaper occurs in the past?
3 ) Finally, consider what is widely known as a masterpiece of this emergent form:
Michael Dobbins has got an ich on my foot in-bertween my little toe and 4th toe and it feels so good to scratch with my socks on ( Thurs 20:48 )
The lack of punctuation clearly causes what could have been a well-defined overall metric tone, to disintegrate. This evokes the notion that bodily reflexes such as scratching, are automatic and unconscious, ungoverned by social niceties. Mr. Dobbins is clearly in a hurry to relieve himself of the itch, and as we can see from his writings, both he and his pet are often to be found relieving themselves in a variety of ways. ( This closeness to Nature suggests a more Eastern approach ).
To conclude: Controversial though it may be, in Michael Dobbins, ten thousand years of human civilization are successfully distilled into a few simple syllables of free-form, abstract poetry that sum up a shattered humanity.
Or, as the author himself puts it:
I have just taken a pregnancy test and the result has come out negative ( 11 April at 00:14 )
This piece is submitted for comment.
