Coem (“code” + “poem”) is a multi-coded (Mateas & Montfort 2005) esoteric programming language that explores how poetry can be made purposeful and code can be made emotional. With roots in codeworks and electronic literature, aesthetic programming, and critical code studies, the language strives to bring into conversation the fields of programming, poetry, linguistics, and typography. Rather than executing instructions, the poet/programmer writes statements as a meditative exercise in truth and expression. As a triptych of source code, output logs, and error messages, the work questions the purpose of language within the contrasting contexts of programming and poetry, where language is either a means to an end or a meaningful text, but rarely both. In feminist opposition to general-purpose technology that emphasises efficiency and clarity, the language is an experiment in personal computing that foregrounds ambiguity, emotion, metaphor, and design.
