Textual variability in new media poetry

New media poetry poses the most radical challenge to poetic form in the early 21st century. Within the last few years what has been variously known as digital poetry, e-poetry, cyber poetry and new media poetry has emerged as both a continuation and a radical refiguring of page-based poetry. New media poetry or digital poetry (I will use the two terms interchangeably) is very diverse but is characterised by forms of interlinking, animation, interactivity and variability which are either impossible or less common on the page. New media poetry also has the capacity to be a multimedia poetry which can combine words, images and sound within the single space of the computer (Smith 2005).