Mario

Building a New Text: A Conversation with Jayme Russell

Really, this is all me engaging with the game in different ways. I’m having a conversation with it. I often do this way in my writing. For example, I have responded to Bowie lyrics, Doctor Who dialogue, and Barbie commercials.

Whale World

Here you can slide on the ice
with your sister

Here when you are hurt your body is shortened
legs chopped from beneath you

Here if you hold the a-button you can linger in the air
a canyon-jumper

Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost

You, baby brother, who only liked to watch but never play, for hours on
end as an 8-bit fanfare blipped deep into the school night. I promised not to tell
mom if you didn’t & we were safe then from the dive-bombing

There Is a Forward Motion in Old Video Games

The surface is a knot
That tightens on one end while it loosens
On the other. The sky is full of ether.
Tubes lead nowhere. The wall persists.