The Last Word
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Literature
    • Book Reviews >
      • Stolen Away
      • Hunger Games
      • A Tale of Magic
      • The Red Pyramid
      • Keeper of the Lost Cities
  • Entertainment
    • Why Funny Girl Should Be The Movie Of This Generation
    • TikTok
    • Among Us Tips & Tricks
    • Among Us
    • LOONA’s 12:00 album review
    • Behind the Scenes
    • Boycott Mulan
    • Were the F.R.I.E.N.D.S really friends?
    • Halloween Myths
    • Dune Review
    • Top 3 Musicals for Teens
    • That's What You Missed On Glee
    • IPL
    • Champions League 2021
    • Colour Out Of Space Film Review
    • Uncut Gems Film Review
    • Little Women Review
    • Why Amber is the unsung hero of Sofia the First
    • The Two Popes Film Review: A Cinematic Sleeping Pill
    • Why I’m Not Watching Trailers Anymore
    • The Last Black Man In San Francisco: The Best Film Of 2019 That Nobody Is Talking About
  • Current Affairs
    • POLITICS >
      • Wake up, Boris Johnson
      • First Presidential Debate
      • Brexit: The Political Decision We Can’t Ignore
      • President-Elect Biden
      • US Elections 2020: When will we actually know the results of the election?
      • The US Election
      • Donald Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis
      • Who Will Replace RBG?
  • Things To Do
    • Vintage Shopping In Singapore
    • Get Your Golf Fix
    • Top 5 Things To Do At MacRitchie Reservoir
    • An Ode to the Humble Stew
    • Drones. Why I love the world from above.
  • Editorial
    • Covid-19 Vaccine
    • Samsung Digital Cockpit
    • Riot or Protest?
    • Robot Baristas
    • Feminism and Men’s Rights
    • Why Don't We Speak About Our Mental Health
    • Anastasia Pagonis
    • Penicillin: The Discovery that Changed the World of Medicine
    • Do Video Games Cause Violence
    • Stairs: Would we be better off without them?
    • Women Who Shaped The World >
      • Bethany Hamilton
      • Harriet Tubman
      • Susan B. Anthony
      • Uncovered >
        • McJobs: Uncovered
        • CoVID-19
        • Chinese New Year
        • Poverty
        • Laziness
        • Inequality
    • Apple TV 4K
    • Contortion: An Introduction
    • Lessons From Covid
    • The Animal Hair Cut Craze
    • Know Your French Fries
    • Why 'OK, Boomer' Is Not The 'N-Word of Ageism'
  • Environment
    • The 6th Mass Extinction
    • Climate Countdown
    • I'm Dreaming Of A Green Christmas
    • What Busy People Need To Know About >
      • Flights to Nowhere
      • Australian Bushfires
      • Hurricane Dorian
      • Greta Thunberg
      • Melting Ice
  • Creative
    • Creative Writing >
      • One Last Breath
      • The Remote's Escape
      • The Remote's Back
      • The Clock: Part 2
      • The Secret Life of Potatoes (Part 2)
    • Comics - Seniors >
      • Seniors: Issue 1
      • Seniors: Issue 2
      • Seniors: Issue 3
      • Seniors: Issue 4
    • Comics - The Cherry Twins >
      • The Cherry Twins: Issue 1
      • The Cherry Twins: Issue 2
    • Comics - Miss Understood >
      • Miss Understood: Issue 1
    • Comics - Masquerade Ball >
      • Masquerade Ball: Issue 1
    • Art In Words >
      • I Can See the Light...
      • Above The Clouds
    • Fashion >
      • Chanel's Fashion Revolution Reaches For The Stars
      • Caption Competiton
      • Funhome: Chloe Choo
      • Future World: Where Art Meets Science
  • Quizzes
    • Christmas!
    • Fun With Flags
    • Classic Villains
    • First Lines
  • Archive
    • Creative Archive >
      • The Clock: Part 1
      • The Man In the Bank
      • Adventurous Story Of A TV Remote - Part 1
      • Yishun: The Devil's Ring
      • A World With No Borders
      • An Interview With The Divers At The Heart Of The Thai Cave Rescue
      • The Mountains
      • The Day I Woke Up In Troy
      • In Japan
      • Pertinus the Tenacious
    • Current Affairs Archive >
      • Riot vs. Protest
      • #BLM What You Need To Know
      • A World Of Performative Activism
      • Entrepreneurship: The Key To Go From Zero To Hero
      • Why The U.S-Iran Conflict Is Sure To Escalate
      • Why India’s Citizenship Bill And Its Effects Are More Serious Than We Originally Thought
      • The Rise Of Bitcoin In 2019
      • Hurricane Delta
      • Why Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Murder Is More Significant Than We Originally Thought
      • Why Do Many Technology Startups Fail?
      • What Is The Trump-Ukraine Crisis And What Are Its Effects?
      • Ending The Hong Kong Protests - A Guide For Dummies
      • Why Brexit is Going Nowhere
      • Ending the Yemen War: A Guide for Dummies
      • India-Pakistan Conflict: A Dummies Guide
    • Editorial Archive >
      • Singapore's Latest Nuisance: Electric Scooters
      • Why Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Humanity
      • Self Driving Cars, The Future of The Automotive Industry
      • Should We Really Be Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence?
      • Something Is Rotten In The Heart of Tanglin's Head Team
      • Boeing 737 Max 8: A Question of Safety
      • A World in the Dark
      • The Day That Siri Died
      • Does Brandy Melville Fit into the Future of Fashion?
      • #NOFILTERPOETRY
      • World Cup Conspiracies
      • Is Money Really That Great?
      • Why I Hate Valentine's Day
      • How We Became Enslaved To The Social Media Overlords
      • The Projector VS Golden Village
      • A Little Red Dot
    • Entertainment Archive >
      • The Diary of Taylor Swift's Cats
      • Champions League Comebacks
      • It's Bruno, Possibly The Weirdest Show On Netflix?
      • Why Being a Film Fan in Singapore Kinda Sucks...
      • Fortnite Vs Apex: Let Battle Commence
      • The Dying Art Of One Direction Fanfiction
      • Taylor Swift Cancels Concert At The Melbourne Cup
      • Haji Lane
      • To All The Boys I've Loved Before
      • Thor Ragnarok film review
      • The Ring of Fury - Why Now?
      • The Films You Missed in 2018
      • Kingsman: The Golden Circle
  • Category

#NOFILTERPOETRY

11/1/2018

0 Comments

 
I won’t pretend I know the first thing about writing poetry. In all honesty, talented poets appear less like artists or authors and more like literary Rumplestiltskins— shrouded in mystery, fashioning phrases into gold. Despite the sense of amazement, I only started reading poetry seriously in the past year or so: it started drip by drip, taking a liking to some of the pieces read in class or maybe noticing something online, and snowballed into a full-blown addiction (the anthologies are stacked so high on my desk I fear it will crumble under the weight).

Therefore, when I take this stance, I take it from the position of an avid, and slightly awestruck, fan of the craft.

I am absolutely and unabashedly baffled by “Instagram Poets.”

The term may be unfamiliar to you, but most people have encountered the phenomenon in some form. I remember my first brush with the trend perfectly: a sunny November morning, making small talk with my next-door neighbour while waiting for the bus. I’m reading this great book, she says, it’s called ‘milk and honey’, by Rupi Kaur? You might have heard of it? Three days later, It appeared at my doorstep. The covers were a sleek black, the kind that betrays every fingerprint, every smudge, encouraging a gingerness of touch, so I held it lightly— almost recoiling (as I should have, before it was too late); all my books are littered with dog-ears and pencilling-ins, a way of picking out parts which are particularly breathtaking: ‘milk and honey’ seemed resistant to this heaviness of handling, but I was determined to try. So I read, highlighter in hand, waiting to have an emotion impacted upon me. And I kept reading. And I finished the book, and felt nothing but confusion.

Perhaps unwisely, I didn’t stop at Kaur. I read Reuben Holmes (otherwise known as “rh sin”) and Samantha Holmes, I read “Atticus”, I read R.M Drake. Not books, mind you, but Instagram feeds. Hundreds of poems per profile, all published online for free. Artsy photos of couplets hot off a typewriter, perhaps with a cigarette butt or a cup of coffee thrown in for good measure, litter the online poetry communities. Every book cover is the same sleek black, every poem is left uncapitalised and unrhymed, and every author is a bestseller.

But clichés do not a bad artist make, at least not independently. So what about the concept is so inherently off-putting? After all, the aspect of self-publication that online spheres boast democratise art: the only person that must be pleased is the audience member, and everyone is an audience member. What could even begin to negate the enormous positive effect that the Internet has on writing in the 21st century?

The content of the poetry. Don’t get me wrong, there are some stunning authors online: both Nayyirah Waheed and Warsan Shire found international acclaim through websites like Instagram. Even otherwise underwhelming poets write truly heart-wrenching pieces on occasion, but a vast majority of the works floating around on the blogosphere appear to be lukewarm at best. Take Reuben Holmes as a particularly infuriating example. The New York Times quotes Holmes as saying he finished “possibly 11” poems during a four hour interview; the rush through and the lack of attention paid to each piece is apparent when his poetry is read. A quick scan of his Instagram present us with poems like “scene thirty-one”, which reads as such: “the best revenge // is realising that you never needed // the person who hurt you.” Very few pieces pass 140 characters, but the words used still do not feel deliberately chosen. With such little space used to convey his message, you expect heft and originality in the imagery— something to be left with once the book is closed. But the metaphors are overused and obvious, as if he is counting on the reader to link his work to their own experiences, and then misattribute the emotion attached to memory as emotion brought about by the literary strength of his poetry. When you see pieces that read “to the girls/ with wild hearts/ may your souls/ remain free”, you understand why all the articles that sing his praises often refer to their favourite “quotes” instead of poems. His work reads more like a daily planner with pithy and empowering sayings than an anthology of poetry. And he is not alone in writing like this.

Maybe the superficiality of the poetry is but another product of the platform. Do people have the time to read experimental, impassioned work in between cat photos? Do people have the motivation to? Maybe the faux-etry is enough to provide the sense of intellectual superiority, without actually asking the reader to mentally challenge themselves. After all, these poets have mastered the art of fifty-second feeling, and they all post enough to keep their audience sated, drowning in adages about self-love, and dealing with trauma, and letting go of the past, and “being enough” (whatever that means). Maybe we’re moving into a new era— one where poetry is self-affirming and ephemeral. Or maybe not: for every “Instagram Poet”, there is a talented newcomer finding fame in between the soundbites. Who am I to judge artistic merit, anyway? Maybe I should just stick to stupefied observation...

​​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Gauri Kumar

    Archives

    November 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

We Would Love To Have You Visit Again Soon!




  • Home
  • About Us
  • Literature
    • Book Reviews >
      • Stolen Away
      • Hunger Games
      • A Tale of Magic
      • The Red Pyramid
      • Keeper of the Lost Cities
  • Entertainment
    • Why Funny Girl Should Be The Movie Of This Generation
    • TikTok
    • Among Us Tips & Tricks
    • Among Us
    • LOONA’s 12:00 album review
    • Behind the Scenes
    • Boycott Mulan
    • Were the F.R.I.E.N.D.S really friends?
    • Halloween Myths
    • Dune Review
    • Top 3 Musicals for Teens
    • That's What You Missed On Glee
    • IPL
    • Champions League 2021
    • Colour Out Of Space Film Review
    • Uncut Gems Film Review
    • Little Women Review
    • Why Amber is the unsung hero of Sofia the First
    • The Two Popes Film Review: A Cinematic Sleeping Pill
    • Why I’m Not Watching Trailers Anymore
    • The Last Black Man In San Francisco: The Best Film Of 2019 That Nobody Is Talking About
  • Current Affairs
    • POLITICS >
      • Wake up, Boris Johnson
      • First Presidential Debate
      • Brexit: The Political Decision We Can’t Ignore
      • President-Elect Biden
      • US Elections 2020: When will we actually know the results of the election?
      • The US Election
      • Donald Trump's COVID-19 Diagnosis
      • Who Will Replace RBG?
  • Things To Do
    • Vintage Shopping In Singapore
    • Get Your Golf Fix
    • Top 5 Things To Do At MacRitchie Reservoir
    • An Ode to the Humble Stew
    • Drones. Why I love the world from above.
  • Editorial
    • Covid-19 Vaccine
    • Samsung Digital Cockpit
    • Riot or Protest?
    • Robot Baristas
    • Feminism and Men’s Rights
    • Why Don't We Speak About Our Mental Health
    • Anastasia Pagonis
    • Penicillin: The Discovery that Changed the World of Medicine
    • Do Video Games Cause Violence
    • Stairs: Would we be better off without them?
    • Women Who Shaped The World >
      • Bethany Hamilton
      • Harriet Tubman
      • Susan B. Anthony
      • Uncovered >
        • McJobs: Uncovered
        • CoVID-19
        • Chinese New Year
        • Poverty
        • Laziness
        • Inequality
    • Apple TV 4K
    • Contortion: An Introduction
    • Lessons From Covid
    • The Animal Hair Cut Craze
    • Know Your French Fries
    • Why 'OK, Boomer' Is Not The 'N-Word of Ageism'
  • Environment
    • The 6th Mass Extinction
    • Climate Countdown
    • I'm Dreaming Of A Green Christmas
    • What Busy People Need To Know About >
      • Flights to Nowhere
      • Australian Bushfires
      • Hurricane Dorian
      • Greta Thunberg
      • Melting Ice
  • Creative
    • Creative Writing >
      • One Last Breath
      • The Remote's Escape
      • The Remote's Back
      • The Clock: Part 2
      • The Secret Life of Potatoes (Part 2)
    • Comics - Seniors >
      • Seniors: Issue 1
      • Seniors: Issue 2
      • Seniors: Issue 3
      • Seniors: Issue 4
    • Comics - The Cherry Twins >
      • The Cherry Twins: Issue 1
      • The Cherry Twins: Issue 2
    • Comics - Miss Understood >
      • Miss Understood: Issue 1
    • Comics - Masquerade Ball >
      • Masquerade Ball: Issue 1
    • Art In Words >
      • I Can See the Light...
      • Above The Clouds
    • Fashion >
      • Chanel's Fashion Revolution Reaches For The Stars
      • Caption Competiton
      • Funhome: Chloe Choo
      • Future World: Where Art Meets Science
  • Quizzes
    • Christmas!
    • Fun With Flags
    • Classic Villains
    • First Lines
  • Archive
    • Creative Archive >
      • The Clock: Part 1
      • The Man In the Bank
      • Adventurous Story Of A TV Remote - Part 1
      • Yishun: The Devil's Ring
      • A World With No Borders
      • An Interview With The Divers At The Heart Of The Thai Cave Rescue
      • The Mountains
      • The Day I Woke Up In Troy
      • In Japan
      • Pertinus the Tenacious
    • Current Affairs Archive >
      • Riot vs. Protest
      • #BLM What You Need To Know
      • A World Of Performative Activism
      • Entrepreneurship: The Key To Go From Zero To Hero
      • Why The U.S-Iran Conflict Is Sure To Escalate
      • Why India’s Citizenship Bill And Its Effects Are More Serious Than We Originally Thought
      • The Rise Of Bitcoin In 2019
      • Hurricane Delta
      • Why Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's Murder Is More Significant Than We Originally Thought
      • Why Do Many Technology Startups Fail?
      • What Is The Trump-Ukraine Crisis And What Are Its Effects?
      • Ending The Hong Kong Protests - A Guide For Dummies
      • Why Brexit is Going Nowhere
      • Ending the Yemen War: A Guide for Dummies
      • India-Pakistan Conflict: A Dummies Guide
    • Editorial Archive >
      • Singapore's Latest Nuisance: Electric Scooters
      • Why Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Humanity
      • Self Driving Cars, The Future of The Automotive Industry
      • Should We Really Be Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence?
      • Something Is Rotten In The Heart of Tanglin's Head Team
      • Boeing 737 Max 8: A Question of Safety
      • A World in the Dark
      • The Day That Siri Died
      • Does Brandy Melville Fit into the Future of Fashion?
      • #NOFILTERPOETRY
      • World Cup Conspiracies
      • Is Money Really That Great?
      • Why I Hate Valentine's Day
      • How We Became Enslaved To The Social Media Overlords
      • The Projector VS Golden Village
      • A Little Red Dot
    • Entertainment Archive >
      • The Diary of Taylor Swift's Cats
      • Champions League Comebacks
      • It's Bruno, Possibly The Weirdest Show On Netflix?
      • Why Being a Film Fan in Singapore Kinda Sucks...
      • Fortnite Vs Apex: Let Battle Commence
      • The Dying Art Of One Direction Fanfiction
      • Taylor Swift Cancels Concert At The Melbourne Cup
      • Haji Lane
      • To All The Boys I've Loved Before
      • Thor Ragnarok film review
      • The Ring of Fury - Why Now?
      • The Films You Missed in 2018
      • Kingsman: The Golden Circle
  • Category