Embrace the branching form.
In hypertext poetry, your poem becomes a series of interactive paths rather than lines and stanzas. This form enables you to write lines within lines while extracting every possible direction an image, idea, or emotion can go. Readers can cross-reference aspects of your poem to inform or clarify their own experience—or simply enjoy the thrill of exploration!
Getting started.
The most accessible tool today is Twine, a free, open-source platform. Twine provides a visual editor where you can see your poem's branching structure as you write, connecting passages with links that readers will follow. No coding experience is required to begin.
Form your approach.
Hypertext poets must approach each line multi-dimensionally, always thinking about the various branches readers will explore. Before you begin brainstorming, check out the examples to see strategies that poets have already experimented with. Then, find the approach that fits your style.
Care to translate traditional forms into a branching approach?
When working with restrained language, hypertext poems can create fascinating results. For instance, re-imagine Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18:
Central passage: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
First branch: Thou art more lovely, and more temperate;
Second branch: Thou art too frigid for I to question it;
Hypertext poems can enhance work by creating a duality of thought, all the while working with rhyme to connect the opposing lines. Explore the various forms explained throughout Poetry Through the Ages, and find ones that work well with branching structures.
Need more freedom in your work?
Try experimenting with various methods to shape sentences into branching form. After all, a sentence can start one way but then spin off into several different directions. Short lines work best for visual clarity, so find openings in grammar where the phrase can spin away into a different direction.
No matter your choice, start where any great poem begins—put pen to paper. Draft out your first line and then sketch three or four options for the next line. Keep going until you have multiple directions for your readers to lose themselves in.