To the casual observer, it looks like a corrupted filename. To the digital archaeologist, it is a Rosetta Stone — a potential gateway to an underground multimedia project from the mid-1990s, when the internet was still a dial-up wilderness, and experimental artists used cryptic labels to protect their work from mainstream indexing.
As Dowson wrote of Cynara: “I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.” And in the fashion of 1996, faithful to the motion of poetry, even when the reel is blank. fylm Cynara Poetry in Motion 1996 mtrjm - may syma 1
The final segment, “may syma 1” — the filmmaker appears as a reflection in a puddle, whispering “May symmetry one” — a nod to kaleidoscopic structure: the film loops four times, each with slightly altered frames. Alternatively, “fylm” might be a misspelled “file” — as in an early hypertext poem on CD-ROM. In 1996, platforms like HyperCard, Storyspace, or Macromedia Director allowed poets to create nonlinear “poetry in motion.” To the casual observer, it looks like a corrupted filename