Chill or groan?
Credit: Special Arrangement
For the brief time I was on Instagram, the most time-consuming process for me was using Canva to create images to go with my poetry.
This does not mean that poets don’t thrive on Instagram. Some of the biggest names of poetry are on Instagram. Ranjit Hoskote has a beautifully curated page, Ellen Bass shares information about her classes and readings, and the Poetry Foundation maintains a page on the platform, to name just three.
But when we speak of instapoetry, we aren’t discussing the ‘paper poets’ with social media presence. We are talking about uber-famous poets who usually share short pieces accompanied by an illustration. Which group do you belong to? Do you love this kind of poetry, or would you rather read something else? A look at both sides might help us make up our minds.
Quite a bit of gatekeeping goes on in the creative world. Instapoetry allows almost anyone to put their work out there, bypassing the publishing route. While this idea is fantastic, one is often subjected to ‘bad’ poetry. Trite sentences, terrible plagiarism, and grammatically incorrect sentences sometimes create the notion that all poetry on the platform is awful.
I learned, rather belatedly, that some poets write for other poets and some poets write for people. Instapoetry is poetry for the people. It has not just made publishing a poem easy, it has also made poetry approachable. This democratisation and enthusiastic embracing of poetry, often considered obscure, is worth celebrating. Does democratisation of poetry mean over-simplistic poetry? One of the criticisms levied against instapoetry is that it is more style and less substance. The images are lovely, the colour choices are inspired, and the fonts are fabulous, but what of the writing?
Instapoetry has transformed poetry into something it is not generally associated with — coolness. No, really. Try it. Tell people you’re a poet. Tell people you’re a novelist. And see how differently they respond. Being an instapoet is ‘cool,’ and the millions of people quoting these poets is a firm testament. This coolness makes poetry appealing to a younger generation. This news should make us happy if we want more poetry to be read. But what about the other poets? How does a young reader learn technique and form if all they read is instapoetry?
Instapoetry and being busy go together. Travelling on a metro? Taking a coffee break? Waiting for a meeting to start? Read a short poem.
On the other hand, poetry needs reflection and assimilation. Instapoetry cannot do that as well as ‘regular’ poetry. Poetry is not something to consume but something to absorb. What instapoetry does better than other forms: give a voice to the marginalised, the unrepresented, and the underrepresented. This has been one of the big successes of the platform.
Moreover, thanks to hashtags, it is possible for a poet to find a sense of camaraderie and fellow feeling. Does this make the reading one-dimensional? This is something to think about.
Like with all creative pursuits, it boils down to choice. The device that brings instapoetry to you can easily bring other poetry your way, too. What you choose to do with your time and access makes all the difference. Some Insta poets to check out include Arunoday Singh (@sufisoul), Nikita Gill (@nikita_gill), ATTICUS (@atticuspoetry), Nayyirah Waheed (@nayyirahwaheedwords), and Amanda Lovelace (@ladybookmad).
The World in Verse is a new monthly column on the best of new (and old) poetry.
The writer is a poet, teacher, podcaster, voice actor and speaker. She has published two collections of poetry. Send your thoughts to her at bookofpoetry@gmail.com