Code and Poetry

I have two passions.

No, that's not true. I have many passions. But two of my passions affect my professional life.

I write both poetry and code. By education I am a poet; I hold a BA in English literature and a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Michigan. By training I am a hacker; from an early age I've been obsessed with the workings of machines, and for the past several years I've earned my living by writing code. Poetry and hacking occupy my mind in equal measure.

People tend to find my dual foci strange, as if code and poetry were opposites. I suspect this has something to do with the myth of left and right brains -- the idea that creativity and analytic ability stem from different biological features. For the moment I'd like to leave aside arguments about the brain. Our understanding of it is poor, and I'd rather not make unfounded assumptions.

After years of interaction with fellow poets and hackers (but not fellow poet-hackers) I've come to the following conclusion: these two groups just don't get each other, and on a fundamental level. Their epistemologies — ways of knowing what they know — are completely different. No big surprise there.