Arts+Culture / States of IndependenceDavid Daniels' MS Word PoemsKenneth Goldsmith selects the outsider visual artist and his early Windows poetryShareLink copied ✔️July 22, 2014Arts+CultureStates of IndependenceText Claire Marie Healy David Daniels' MS Word poems As part of our new summer US project States of Independence we've invited our favourite 30 American curators, magazines, creatives and institutions to takeover Dazed for a day. Kenneth Goldsmith is taking over. The Museum of Modern Art's first Poet Laureate and founder of Ubuweb is on a mission to tell us why we should care about poetry at all – from his stirring call to arms (or QWERTY keyboards), to exclusive poetry designed to challenge your poetic preconceptions: Microsoft Word poems, found poems and Mira Gonzalez's diet poems. Outsider poet David Daniels once referred to a web artist as "a human or a machine that pours out his/her/its soul on the internet." More human than machine, Daniels made words out of pictures and pictures out of words right up until his death in 2008. Raised in New Jersey but based out of Berkeley, California, Daniels' pioneering series of visual poems, The Gates of Paradise (2000) are made up of "shape poems" created entirely using an early Windows 3.1 version of Word. Available online in their entirety on Goldsmith's archive site, Ubuweb, the poems anticipate the status of poetry today: both influenced by and living within the digital sphere, and hence designed to be looked at and scrolled across as much as they are to be read. Kenneth Goldsmith selected some of his favourite poems from what he considers to be Daniels' best work in The Gates of Paradise for Dazed. Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.TrendingThe 5 best songs from Drake’s new albums (plural) We listened to all two hours and 40 minutes of Iceman, Habibti and Maid Of Honour, so you don’t have toMusic SamsungLife & CultureWhat went down at Dazed Club’s drop-in skate session with SamsungMaison Margiela FragrancesEventWhat went down at Maison Margiela’s ‘The Scentsorium Collection’ launchBeauty10 of the hottest Instagram accounts fusing art, sex and eroticaBeautyNude awakening: Meet the young people embracing naturismLife & CultureIs veganism a privilege? FashionWhy is Americana everywhere right now?Life & CultureThere is nothing more romantic than friendshipMusicSalem: Get to know the prodigal sons of witch houseEscape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy