In Defense of Insta-Poetry

Short does not need to mean superficial.

When I first started using Instagram, the number one thing I appreciated about it was the instant gratification it seemed to provide.

I would post, and within minutes, I’d get a slew of random accounts posting things like “great picture!”, “Wow!” and other superficial but positive phrases.

At first it made my ego feel great, until I slowly realized the superficiality of a lot of those comments. I think Instagram has developed a bad reputation for that.

Another Instagram phenomenon — the “insta-poet” — has a similar reputation for superficiality. Insta-poets seem to be purposefully crafting shorter, more shallow poems specifically to do well on the platform.

Is that destroying poetry, or breathing new life into it?

I agree that the “democratization” of anything breeds a lot of shitty versions of itself. If more people are capable of doing poetry, then of course there will be more amateurs in the game, bringing the average quality closer to what the average poet can produce.

But I contend that that’s a benefit, not a bug, of technology.

Sure, you might have a more overwhelming number of poets to consider reading, and work to find the ones you truly enjoy —…