David Knoebel introduced “Thoughts Go” in a series of “Click Poetry” to “… make vivid connections between the mundane and the timeless.” and to “… test the limits of poetic brevity.”(Knoebel) The poem completes in mere seconds, but the connections it generates provides an impression that envelops beyond the brevity of the poem. “Thoughts Go” juxtaposes verbal and visual elements to paint an aesthetic image that is intricately layered with text and audio overlapping each other to create the entirety of the work.
The Click Poem utilizes a rudimentary layout for interactivity by providing a single clickable yellow disk that controls the progression of the poem. Yellow associates psychologically with the intellect and the mind. As the reader holds down the icon, only then will the poem progress and the narrator’s “Thoughts Go”. The omniscient narrator wistfully questions the arbitrary appearance and disappearance of thoughts and investigates where thoughts go.
The elements of words and sounds of the poem converge to produce a chaotic fusion of simultaneously reading and listening to seemingly different tangents. Because its not possible to comprehend two different stimuli at the same time, the decomposition of the poem’s components is essential as it ironically exploits a firm inter connectivity that augments the depth of the poem.
A heavy rhythmic voice dictates the nostalgic pace of the auditory element of the poem. Complete and rehearsed thoughts express lucidity in one’s voice but the progression of the narration appears fragmented, analogous to an ongoing thought. The speaker reveals a philosophical question as he introduces: “Where do thoughts go?” The tone of the speaker evokes a sense of longing as the auditory element of the poem ends with “…Time and again.” Comparisons from birds to thoughts develop as the narrator emphasizes descriptions as “…The long winged thoughts”, “…far travelers”, and “nest.”
A sense of constant movement directs the visual element of the poem. The layout of the poem presents the title and author of the poem identical to a book cover. Thoughts and ideas migrate through the medium of books. The Bold black text represent the visual element the poem as it oscillates from appearing and fading. The text fabricates the image of the movement of thoughts akin to the movement of birds as The written element of the poem introduces the idea that thoughts are constantly diverging and changing directions by utilizing phrases like “…The wedge of geese…” that “…veers low across the parking lot…”
Thoughts progress as they travel from insightful minds to another. Knoebel expresses the connection to be acknowledged between the movement of thoughts and the migration of birds and how thoughts should not be undermined. Birds underwent adaptation to migrate for the primary purpose to search for food. Just as birds “…touchdown briefly” from their flight path to gather food, thoughts briefly dock mind to mind searching for novel ideas incorporating the popular idiom: Food for thought. The nostalgic tone of the narrator elicits an impression that any thought should be cherished before it “…disappears beyond the sycamore grove.” and the individual is left to contemplate on where those thoughts veered off to.
Countless thoughts blanket the endless sky soaring and occasionally landing to bring insight to an individual. Knoebel beautifully intertwines two diverging components into one central idea that continues to chase the mystery behind where thoughts go. Thoughts unpredictably emerge and journey across the world waiting to land and surprise an individual with a struck of genius.genius. Knoebel expresses that thoughts undoubtedly will perish as capriciously as they appear leaving an individual disillusioned asking if he or she actually perceived the thought or perceived the thought flying away.