In Defense of Instapoetry

There's a massive divide in the poetry community between the traditional methods of publishing poetry versus the more modern avenues.

While there are more and more people who are finding the happy middle, and the best of both worlds by doing both, there are a lot of literary journal crusaders who won't post a word on Instagram, and a lot of Instapoets who don't think it's worth it to send things to journals.

There's a lot that both groups can gain from experimenting with each other's means of sharing poetry, but here are a few of the big arguments I've seen against Instapoetry:

• It counts as publishing, so if you post on Instagram, you can't go back and submit to journals in most cases.
• Instapoetry tends to be strictly free verse and there aren't that many people experimenting with different fixed forms or poetic devices.
• Some will also say that Instapoetry, in general, isn't as high quality as what you'll find in journals.

Now, I do consider myself to be an Instapoet, but I also have about a dozen literary journal publications. I'm not saying this to gloat, I'm saying this to explain why I think doing both is a great way for poets to both publish formally, and publicize themselves.

I'll admit it; not every poem I read on Instagram is a masterpiece.

However, that's true for any community that accepts user-based submissions without any kind of editorial review. When people post poetry on Instagram, that's essentially how we need to view it. I know talking about editorial review and social media in the same breath makes me sound crazy, but when you use social media as a tool to share your poetry with a wider audience, that is essentially what these platforms become.

However, I also think that there are a few reasons why a quick survey of Instapoetry won't give someone a solid idea for how diverse the poetry community on Instagram is.

Many Instapoets are new poets in general.

Anyone new to the craft isn't going to be an expert overnight, in a few months, or even in a few years.

Part of why poetry on Instagram may not always be as premier as what you'll find in The Paris Review, or any other major literary journal is that you could be stumbling across the work of a beginner.

Granted, before I brought my words to Instagram, I'd been writing poetry for over ten years. About five of those years were with proper writing education.

People are at all different stages in their poetic journeys, especially on a platform as accessible as Instagram.

There are still a ton of incredibly skilled poets like Olivia Desme and Chelsie Diane, who are very knowledgeable about the craft, and know how to make their poems sing.

Another happy trend on Instagram is that there's quite a lot of motivational poetry. I'm sure we can all agree that we can use a little uplifting here and there during a typical day.

Popular poetry is taking a swing toward simplicity.

Whether you like it or not

writing like this

breaking up sentences

into tiny little

bite-sized lines

is quite a common style of poetry now. On top of that, it's popular.

This isn't just a meaningless trend. Simpler poetry still has a home in the poetry community; it can be well written, and it can definitely pack an emotional punch.

Plus, it's a great gateway to have people start with simple poetry, then work into learning how to appreciate classic poetry, or fixed form poetry.

It's kind of nice to have something that is simpler, and more approachable for your friends who aren't active members of the literary community.

Plus, it's working.

According to surveys done by the National Endowment for the Arts, there are currently 28 million adults reading poetry in the US population.

That means 11.7 percent of people are reading poetry periodically or regularly.

These numbers are incredibly exciting considering that when the survey was conducted back in 2008, only 6.7 percent of adults in the US were reading poetry.

Free verse is the norm for us now, both on and off Instagram.

Another big complaint I see about Instapoetry is that everything is in free verse, and doesn't have enough poetic devices at play. Sometimes, I'll agree with this, I do love to see a good villanelle or limerick.

Yes, Instapoetry could have more literary devices at work, but since styles like Rupi Kaur's are so simple, it's attractive to people who are casual readers.

The very nature of posting on social media almost demands brevity and simplicity.

This isn't a bad thing. It's just making the most of an efficient way to put your poetry in front of more people. Essentially, it's being efficient with how you, as a poet, advertise your existence as a creative.

Focusing back on free verse, it's a style of poetry. It's incredibly popular, both on social media, and in literary journals. I've seen well regarded literary journals that specifically ask for free verse poetry, and not work in fixed forms.

Instagram is particularly filled with free verse, but again, any website without an approval process is going to attract fledgling writers who may be writing poetry for the first time.

Even if you're in your first year of writing poetry, you're new to harnessing the power of poetic devices. It takes time to learn these things.

Instapoetry doesn't have to be for everyone, but we also don't need to put it down.

At the end of the day, the more positivity we have in the poetry community, the better off we all are.