As time goes on a society changes, poetry moves along and changes with its writers. This is why poetic movements are so different from one another. The poetry of Shakespeare’s time is drastically different from the writings of the Beat poets in the 1950s and 60s. Likewise, the poetry we are writing today is also very different than what has been written before.
With the rise of social media, we as a society have latched onto short posts that get to the point. We like funny tweets we read on Twitter, short 7-second videos that were on Vine, and news articles that shorten down paragraphs into 2-4 sentences. We now prefer to view and read things that can keep up with our short attention spans and on-the-go lifestyles. So, it makes sense that our poetry has adapted to this.
Micropoetry is quite popular these days. Micropoetry is essentially social media poetry – it is a poem short enough to fit in a Twitter post, or in a visual post on Instagram. As such, these poems tend to be about 140 characters in length.
Many people love Micropoetry. Each poem is short and simple, making it easy to scroll through a poet’s account and read multiple poems while sitting in class, waiting in line, taking a lunch break, or browsing the internet before going to bed. These poems don’t use extravagant language, and tend to stick with regular vernacular. They are often paired with an aesthetic picture or drawing for visual purposes.
Additionally, these poems tend to be easy to understand. The poems are straightforward and do not conceal any hidden meaning behind them. Rupi Kaur, a poet who became famous for posting her poetry on Instagram, is well-known for her short poems. If you scroll through her account, you can view many of her poems, such as this one: “give to those / who have nothing / to give to you,” and “if you were born with / the weakness to fall / you were born with / the strength to rise.”
Like Kaur’s poetry, many Micropoetry tends to take on an encouraging voice. These poems send positive words of strength and healing to the reader. Others, like this poem by s.l. gray, “I would love to stay / but you’ve got a new light / and I do not believe / that you see me anymore,” carry an immensely painful heartbreak within such a few number of lines.
While many readers love this short, straightforward form of poetry, there are many critics. Some argue that today’s poetry takes away one of the most enjoyable parts of poetry. If you have ever read poems by Sylvia Plath, e.e. cummings, or any famous poet of the past, you may have noticed that you had to read a poem multiple times in order to understand the meaning. This is something that poetry-lovers crave. Readers love to read and reread a poem, trying to dissect it and understand the meaning. Oftentimes, there is no clear-cut meaning – the interpretation is up to the person reading it. This can lead to enjoyable discussions about what you think the poem means to you, and explaining why you think this way.
With Micropoetry, you usually don’t get that. Micropoetry is designed for social media, meaning that it is written to fit into specific reactions. Micropoetry works towards gaining your like or Facebook reaction (laughing, angry, sad). However, poetry often doesn’t fit into those strict boundaries. A poem can carry multiple thoughts and emotions at once – often conflicting each other. One reader may feel one emotion from a poem, while someone else may feel something entirely different. Oftentimes, a poet will leave out the meaning of the poem for this purpose.
This is not to say that a short poem lacks depth and emotion. Ezra Pound, a famous Imagist poet in the 1910, became popular for his short poetry. Let us take his poem, “Reflection” into consideration. The poem reads: “I know that what Nietzsche said is true, / And yet / I saw the face of a little child on the street, / And it was beautiful.” This poem allows the reader to incorporate their knowledge of Nietzsche, and use this to pick apart the poem. What exactly did Nietzsche say? Who is this child on the street? What made the child beautiful? How is the speaker feeling and why do they feel this way?
The joy of poetry is trying to figure out what the poet is trying to say, and to understand why you personally interpret a poem in a certain way. Today’s mainstream poetry deprives readers of this joy. Most of the poetry you read on social media is clear-cut. The meaning is written down in plain words, and you understand the purpose of the poem upon first read.
Most of this poetry is mainstream, meaning that it is what you typically see on the “For You” or “Featured” pages on Instagram. Luckily, there are so many poets who are writing extraordinary work and are keeping the excitement of poetry alive. They may not get featured on the front page often, but their writing should not go unnoticed.
