"Codework is the term associated with the literary and rhetorical practice of mixing human and computer languages (Hayles, 2004; Raley, 2002; Cramer, 2008). Types of codework span from intentionally arranged constructions intended for human consumption that do not execute on any real computer system, to valid expressions in bona fide programming languages that are meaningful to both human and machine readers. Examples of the former include the work of Mez (Mary-Anne Breeze)..."

-John Bork, From Codwork to Working Code: A Programmer's Approach to Digital Literature.

"...Multimedia artist Mary Anne Breeze, working under the nom-de-plume MEZ, has invented a recombinant idiolect called mezangelle in her attempt to short-circuit and bypass received processes of meaning-making. In a screen titled “n.sert yr narrative curve” she describes the potential reader (THE CONT.ROLL.O][VE][R) as follows: “[able to sing the spilt, open mouthed with sac][culuar][ks of spooned sugar N.structs, the song prefabricated, melting M.mitted p][redictable][atterns]”. The reader becomes part of the flow of interaction between man and machine, an infinitely folding surface oscillating between different rhythms and time frames..."
-Theodoros Chiotis

-From Stress Fractures: Essays on Poetry: David Barnes, David Caddy, Theodoros Chiotis, Tom Chivers

"In her work, digital poet Mez (Mary-Anne Breeze) blends HTML and English together to create a language she calls “mezangelle,” intended to represent the mutual dependence of poetic language and code necessary to create e-poetry. In an interview for furtherfield.org, Mez tells co-founder of CONT3XT.NET42 Franz Thalmair: “much of my present output questions the concepts of “reality” + “virtual” + their systematic definition crumbling. i’m exploring how this disintegration may lead 2 a continuum approach of the real<--->virtual.”43 The clash of the real and the virtual is what’s at stake in Mez’s mezangelle codeworks, as the ‘real’ language of the artistic, poetic text is forced into visible interaction with the previously invisible, alien, ‘virtual’ language.

In a codework entitled “pro][tean][.lapsing.txts,”44 Mez presents the ‘clash concept’ at work in her mezangelle language through her mezangelle language. The work opens with a page of text in mezangelle, topped by the now-familiar coded header for an email:

From: “.dirtee codah.”
Date: Mon Feb 11, 2002 5:20 pm
Subject: N.formation.sources|{i. am. [trapped. in. seizure. language

The term “.dirtee codah.” functions as a hyperlink that takes the user to other parts of the work. Throughout this piece, Mez meditates on what it means to be ‘trapped in seizure language’—the language of the physical, epileptic seizure, but also the language of capture, of imprisonment. The particular linguistic construction of mezangelle ‘captures’ code within poetic language—or, perhaps, the poetic language within code—to create something that is “part girl| [part][ial][boy ().” If “The DNA of programmer fare is code:,”45 then mezangelle is the DNA for a world balanced between the push of poetic language and the pull of code; a ‘dirty,’ troubled language that puts pressure on the conflict, the duende, between the two forces."

- Amanda G. Michaels, Digital Duende: Reading the Rasp in E-Poetry

"I cannot help but to think of Netwurker Mez, whose primary coding language, Mezangelle, is used to create code-poetry that typically does not compile. The plethora of literary techniques invoked in Mezangelle make her work particularly accessible to people whose backgrounds tend to be less on the programming side of CCS. I like to think of her coding practices as closely related to obfuscation, though more in the literary sense than functional sense, if you subscribe to that dichotomy.

For non-coders who are intimidated by the second C in CCS, or anyone unfamiliar with Mez's work, I suggest testing the waters with some examples of interpretive readings that have been performed on Mez's code-poetry. Rita Raley has performed a very insightful reading on Mez's work. Another interesting reading of Mezangelle...can be found here."

-Max Feinstein, HASTACH Code Critiques CCS Forum

"...this usage can be subverted in a way that renders digital text - code - as 'pure' representation. The Australian artist Mary-Anne Breeze ('Mez') does this precisely in her codework poems, an example of which...[is]... [ad]Dressed in Skin C.ode ...[this] work uses the complexities and inaccessibility of computer code to point out the ambiguities and sheer chance of much representation. It uses the representational devices of a computer to generate a work of art, an instance of representation that is as much about feeling as communicating, and that critically engages with the very act of making representation."

-In _Understanding Representation_ by Jen Webb.

"In addition to the infiltration of the abbreviated language of email and text messaging into mainstream print media, it is now also commonplace to encounter programming keywords, symbols, operators, indentation, and pagination entwined with natural, non-technical, mother tongue expressions. Codework is the term associated with the literary and rhetorical practice of mixing human and computer languages (Hayles; Raley; Cramer). Types of codework span from intentionally arranged constructions intended for human consumption that do not execute on any real computer system, to valid expressions in bona fide programming languages that are meaningful to both human and machine readers. Examples of the former include the work of Mez (Mary-Anne Breeze)..."

-John Bork, University of Central Florida, "From Codework to Working Code: A Programmer's Approach to Digital Literacy".