The Two

"The Two" could be called a digital poem or a story generator. It produces three-line narratives. In the first line of each stanza, two characters of unspecified gender are introduced. The second line includes two pronouns and a verb phrase, stating specific genders for the two characters but leaving the resolution of these pronouns up to the reader. The last line offers a sort of conclusion and describes something about the two characters. Because particular roles introduced in the first line (such as "the babysitter" and "the police officer") are stereotypically imagined as mapping to particular genders, the story that is generated can pose a challenge to readers and can expose their assumptions. Because languages differ in how easy it is to initally omit mention of person's gender, the translation of this piece can also be challenging.