Arguably, some of the most beautiful works of literature come from poetry. Whether it is Mahmoud Darwish’s reflections on love and loss or Rumi’s exploration of the soul, the ability of poetry to convey deep emotions and experiences in a unique way is irreplaceable by other forms of writing.
However, with the changes in the modern world, we see this shift in poetry to a more modernized and shortened style, commonly joined with visual elements. Because the name stems from how this form of poetry is usually posted on social media platforms, where it grew in popularity, it has earned the name of instapoetry.
Instapoetry is a style of poetry that is very short and minimalistic, primarily for the purpose of being digestible and relatable. The popularity of this style can be attributed to lesser attention spans in the target audience demographic (typically younger generations), as well as the increased use of social media amidst decreasing popularity of the “tedious, long ancient” physical books.
I already tend to be very picky with poetry. I find that I get easily cringed out, especially with works depicting themes of love and heartbreak, which seems to be almost every poetry book nowadays. Now, of course, older poetry books explored these topics as well, but they seemed more genuine and deeper than much of the poetry I see now. I mean, there’s a huge difference between reading about deep heartbreak, loss, and longing and a poem about being left on read and getting mixed signals. My disdain towards this particular style is quite strong and rooted in the fact that I genuinely cannot appreciate or see much value or talent in this form of poetry other than comedic relief.
One of my favorite instapoets to skim, and one of the most famous, is Rupi Kaur.Â
Here is one of her poems:
“and here you are living
despite it all”
-Rupi Kaur, the sun and her flowers
That is not an excerpt of the poem, no, that is the poem.Â
How? I do not know.
What’s even better is that you see people praising these poems. They claim that they are very deep and “get you in your feels”, almost reminiscent of people calling Taylor Swift modern-day Shakespeare. I see how this could be attractive to a middle school audience fresh out of their first heartbreak, but it shocks me that there are grown adults genuinely praising these “poems”.
Here are a few more from her best-selling book milk and honey:Â
“the idea that we areÂ
so capable of love
But still chooseÂ
to be toxic”
“we began
with honesty
let us end
in it too”
“how is it so easy for you
to be kind to people he asked
milk and honey drippedÂ
from my lips as i answered
cause people have not
been kind to me”
These are just the beginning, to provide a gist of the general style of these poems. There are plenty more with far more unintentionally comedic themes and wording. I would encourage you to flip through for a few laughs. Or, who knows, maybe you’ll actually end up enjoying them.
I also find a lack of thought regarding the line breaks. It’s possible that I’m just “not getting it”, but it seems as though someone just blindly hit enter at any point. It doesn’t seem to be contributing to any meaningful flow or rhythm.Â
But maybe I’m being too harsh. Just to play devil’s advocate, I see how the absence of content allows for the reader to fill in the gaps with their own experiences. The lack of substance creates an open-endedness that cues the retrieval of your own memories and experiences so that you are able to fill in the gaps in the poem with your own meaning. Well, in that case… it’s still not for me. Not that there is zero value in this style, but I just don’t think that there is much that is praiseworthy about it. I recognize that this is a rather conservative take, and, who knows, maybe I will grow to love it someday. But for now, it remains as a fun satirical read I point to and laugh at when I’m at the bookstore.Â