On using emojis in poetry

“… Great challenge to use them – forces you to explore the palette. Curious how sometimes I felt like they stopped the rhythm, and in other places they sort of skidded by. I decided to use them as stronger punctuation marks, sort of, giving the mind a mini-rest, rather than popping up mid-phrase. Interesting how the eye takes in this stuff …”

“… I got caught up in the tonal and aesthetic considerations, as well as the questions of meaning/rhythm … I just didn’t like the look of some of them when I tried them in the text. The shouting face in the title, for instance, looked like a heavy-handed blob in the text. And then the different renderings depending on device/keyboard will change how people see them too. These are important variables in poetic reception! All thanks to your longette.”

Emma Driver, early adopter of the Longette (you can find Emma’s Longette with emojis here)