POETRY IN THE AGE OF TWITTER

 

I’ve come late to the whole social media party.  I’m of that generation which was already in its late thirties/early forties when the Internet went from being a curiosity to a mainstay of modern life.    With my recent switch from drab clerical work to the life of a freelance writer, self-publisher and book reviewer, social media has taken on a new and rather important role in my life.  For years I avoided Facebook and Twitter like the plague, until a month ago.  Now they are an indispensable part of my work life, for better or worse.  And while there is still much to deplore about the Internet, for the writer and the reader, there are diamonds hidden in amongst the gravel of social media.

Twitter is a case in point.  While Facebook is predominantly about posted pictures of favorite meals and adorable pets and pop memes, Twitter is for the most part designed for written posts (or Tweets).  I hated the whole idea of Twitter when it first reared its head.  As a novice writer/playwright I was appalled by the notion of being restricted to 140 characters per post.  While I was busy being appalled, however, a whole generation of poets were enthralled by the Twitter paradigm.  Novels, three-act plays and even a five thousand-word short story would all be too unwieldy for Twitter.  Poets, however, have no problem with size restrictions.  Indeed, poetry has long imposed such restrictions on itself voluntarily, from the Petrarchan sonnets to the quatrains and odes of the Romanticists to the minimalism of free verse.  Poets, in turn, rather than chafe under the requirements of verse form, have long embraced them.  Who can argue the beauty of a Shakespearean sonnet:

•      My tongue-tied muse in manners holds her still
•      While comments of your praise, richly compiled
•      Reserve their character with golden quill
•      And precious phrase by all the muses filed

 

In my last blogpost I touched on the latest form of Twitter-based poetry, #hashtag poetry, in my review of a young Twitter-poet.  (Not sure if they actually refer to themselves as such, but whatever.)  Today, and over the next few blogposts, I want to take a brief look at some of the best new poets and writers to be found on the ‘Net.  This will by no means be a comprehensive, in depth look, naturally.  There are far too many wonderful poets and writers to name them all, let alone provide an appropriate assessment of their craft.  While all of the writers considered here are masters of their craft, in true writerly fashion I will be saving my favorite of these for last.  The others I present in no particular order or ranking.

.al. is, according to her Twitter profile, “just a girl with a PhD in molecular biology and a penchant for poetic verse.”  Her forte is “shape poetry,” in which the words are arranged in clever shapes reflecting the essence of the poem itself.  One example will serve to illustrate the beauty of the form and the mastery of the artist:

 

 just …
i
m
a
g
i
n
e
a place
where y o u
would    like to
to kiss     me      the most
let’s                                go..

 

The poems of .al. are crafted in the truest sense of the word.  But she doesn’t limit herself to shape poetry.  Her free verse reflects the same free-wheeling quality:  “loving her was like trying to navigate/with a broken compass/yet without her/the way was lost.”  More moving are such poems as:  “she waits–/in blackbird season/the sky/a dark ocean where/her thoughts/can flock like/their sister starlings/swirling/whirling/ murmurations;/a magic carpet ride.”  Here we see the poet’s maturity of voice, the love for potent imagery and tonal resonance.  Her poetry can be found on Twitter by following “A girl called .al.”  Log on and start following her now; you’ll be glad you did.