“Stromatolite” is a dream/delusion/poem/shallow grave of language. As I say by way of introduction:
I was carving up _Was_, Michael Joyce’s “novel of internet,” feeding phrases to Googlemena, savage goddess, to see what she might throw back. Results fell mainly in three piles: interesting resonance (e.g.,”the lost what was” evoking notes on circumcision); incestuous loops (quotations from the novel in reviews, etc.); and most marvelously… THESE REALLY WEIRD HEAPS OF WORDS… such as:
PRECIPITATE FEMUR DOUBLE PUMA FOOTSTOOL MOCK TESTICLE CHATTY CONSANGUINEOUS PARAGON POLISH CHANTEY FOOLHARDY GROOVE DAUNT NEARBY CLOVE WINDFALL SHAREHOLDER VENEREAL NERO GLYPH PRINTMAKE STYRENE DROSOPHILA SEISMOGRAPH TRUMPERY INDOMITABLE GUZZLE ASTIGMAT DIVALENT TURVY ASHLEY KIOSK SAULT CHANCELLOR SYNOPTIC SERENE SOIL SCARVES CALIBRATE BUTTONWEED HYPERBOLOIDAL COMPARATIVE SSE COMBATANT TURGID INCONSPICUOUS ULTERIOR PETTICOAT STANZA VILLAGE QUILL INSTALL BROKEN SCIMITAR QUADRATIC OR BUNDLE OPPRESSION LARSEN FLAIR MATHEWSON FORWENT MONTAGUE EXPORTATION SEQUOIA BEIJING OR TINFOIL IMPRINT CHRISTOPH FORWARD FALCON IMPELLING BLUM SHRIVEL CHATTEL STEM EMMA LIVINGSTON NEWBORN HOMESTEAD BLATANT ILLITERATE PHRASEOLOGY WORLD OTTER DESIGNATE BIKE TRUE AIRDROP SPLAY FAYETTEVILLE HAMMOCK STICKTIGHT TONSIL SYNCHRONY GOSSAMER STETHOSCOPE INGERSOLL TUNNEL …etc…
The trick to disovering one of these masses, generally speaking, is to offer at least three words with zero apparent context. For instance, DREAMS BEASTS SEX (okay, not that one) or GNOMON WASTREL CARAVAN (try it!).
In other words, the Web is haunted, teeming with unquiet remains of strange, perhaps inexplicable writing-acts. (Well, duh.) But I tell you, this can get weird…
“Stromatolite” is where my imagination ran from these ghosts. It is, as I say, a (recorded) dream, an articulated delusion. Also a prosy sort of 21-line poem, given to the ground and yet exposed to disinterment.
This is not a game. Touch the text at any point. If you settle on mere ground, it will fall away. Or you may unearth part of the buried body. A register at the top of the screen reflects your progress, but you are under no obligation.
