Kristin Emanuel, a PhD student in English & Comparative Literature, gave a talk on poet Hannah Weiner’s Signal Flag Poems at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, discussing how militaristic systems — like naval code — can be used to express human connection, Nov. 30.

Hannah Weiner was an experimental poet who used signal flags, semaphore flags, and morse code to incorporate a visual or performance element into her poetry in her collection “Trans-Space Communication,” before she died at the age of 69 in 1997. Weiner’s work was temporarily displayed in the museum during the event. 

Signal flags are a communication system among mariners, or sailors, in which each letter in the alphabet has a unique flag. They can be strung together to form words or sentences to convey information among ships. Another system of communication Weiner used was semaphore flags, which are two hand-held flags that are moved in various positions by the flag-holder to express individual letters. Weiner also used morse code, which uses the length of a flashing light or sound to represent letters. All three of these languages are currently used by the U.S. Navy.

Weiner created “Trans-Space Communication” during the Vietnam War, and some of the poems in the collection pose a tension by including anti-war sentiments written in naval code. Emanuel explained that Weiner also controversially repurposed stark, masculine naval code to express tender emotions and write love poems. 

Emanuel read a quote that Weiner said in July of 1969 about the focus of her work.

“I am interested in exploring methods of communication that will be understood face-to-face, or at any distance, regardless of language, country, or planet of origin, by all sending and receiving.” 

Emanuel emphasized the powerful contradictions Weiner creates by using stiff and choppy codes to write love poems, through what she called encrypted intimacy. Further, Emanuel noted that Weiner explores ideas of gender and sexuality within her poetry. 

She provided an example, saying that the maritime code RAE, spelled out in signal flags, means “Look out, man, look out,” which has historically referred to wartime threats. Used in Weiner’s art, however, it represented a possible sexual advance, which Emanuel said challenges gender constructs through sexual innuendo and questions signals typically viewed as masculine. 

Emanuel spoke about an interview she conducted with Maxwell Neely-Cohen, a performer who recreated Weiner’s performance piece “RJ Romeo & Juliet” using semaphore flags in Central Park. She read a quote from Neely-Cohen, where he suggests that communicating through code is similar to how many of us communicate using modern technology:

“We were in the park actually performing, and all of the sudden, it hit us,” it said. “The pace, the feeling of this communication, the pauses, was totally and completely familiar to us. This is text-messaging on a dating app. This is emojis. Sending something out, often truncated. Awkwardly awaiting a response that might come fast or slow or not at all.” 

St. Louis resident and event attendee Carmen Roboto found the ideas and conceptions behind Weiner’s work most impactful.

“I wasn’t moved by the poetry in isolation, but I was very moved by the speaker’s explanation and delivery of the poetry,” said Roboto. 

Glen Wiley, another attendee, found the visual nature of Weiner’s poetry more impactful than the spoken delivery of it. 

“I think the visual aspect is quite nice,” said Wiley. “The use of codes makes you stop and look at it, whereas most words, you just hear. You hear them, and you don’t think about them — but seeing a visual language, you have to stop and think about what you’re seeing.”

Emanuel praised Weiner for effectively using code in poetry to challenge gender, sexuality, and genre. She also said that Weiner’s work demonstrates that speech is not the only effective form of communication, especially looking to the future and considering how technological advances might affect human interaction.

“What happens when long-distance interactions become commodified by the very technologies that enable them?” Emanuel asked. “How might a higher volume of information simultaneously dilute and amplify our capacity for human connection?”