Modern "Instapoetry"

[carahmellow]

I read a lot of poetry collections... some well-known, and some by random people who self-publish their work (I find most of the collections I read at thrift stores). I am finding myself getting more and more frustrated with some of the collections I come across because "instapoetry" seems to be the new thing, and it's EVERYWHERE. I understand that everyone has the right to share their work, and I know not all of my poems are top tier magnificent works of art. Some poetry should just be for fun, and not taken TOO seriously. But when I see things like this:

the sound of your name 
still gives me bruises.

or

i'm not a cure 
for your boredom. 

(both of these are in a poetry book on my shelf... single sentences on a blank page with random line breaks. This is 2 of MANY)

What are we supposed to do with that? Are we supposed to applaud? Are we supposed to respect that? Are we supposed to be impressed? And if not, why is this type of poetry so popular now? Is it because it makes others feel like they could also do it? I'm my eyes; these are prompts. These are slivers of ideas to go off of.. and create a beautiful poem with. Doesn't a true creative WANT to create something beautiful and profound with these ideas? Isn't that the point? It almost feels like poetry is being dumbed down. It's a slap in the face for people who truly take the time to pen out pieces of work... and puzzle them out over time. 

The other day I was so fed up with reading these stupid sentences in a poetry collection I was reading. Just single sentences on a blank page, which by the way... is a huge waste of paper. And I decided I was going to sit down and try my hand at "bad poetry" just to make myself feel better... and I swear my BAD poetry took me 15 seconds to write and was probably 3 times better than half the stuff out there being published. How is this happening and WHY? Why are people being manipulated into thinking "I can't love you into being a good person" is worth $20.00? And who decides what bad poetry gets published? There is at least MEDIOCRE poetry that is just as easy to understand... so what gives?

What are your thoughts on this type of modern poetry?

[CRNDLSM]

This is the best poetry site for its ability to put instapoetry in its right place

[SwooK]

There is great and bad (and by "bad" I assume you mean "popular") poetry being published all the time, just like any other art form—for every Fremont there is another 20 Avengers movies. 
The fact is your poems are clearly not good or bad/popular enough to be published. Welcome to the world of writing poetry. 
Here's a tip, don't read collections of poems you don't like and then blame the poets in that collection for writing poems you don't like. Maybe just try to write something good.

[Valerie Please]

So…what are these “bad” poems you wrote…let’s see them.

The curiosity is eating me alive.

Xo,
Val

I read a lot of poetry collections... some well-known, and some by random people who self-publish their work (I find most of the collections I read at thrift stores). I am finding myself getting more and more frustrated with some of the collections I come across because "instapoetry" seems to be the new thing, and it's EVERYWHERE. I understand that everyone has the right to share their work, and I know not all of my poems are top tier magnificent works of art. Some poetry should just be for fun, and not taken TOO seriously. But when I see things like this:

the sound of your name 
still gives me bruises.

or

i'm not a cure 
for your boredom. 

(both of these are in a poetry book on my shelf... single sentences on a blank page with random line breaks. This is 2 of MANY)

What are we supposed to do with that? Are we supposed to applaud? Are we supposed to respect that? Are we supposed to be impressed? And if not, why is this type of poetry so popular now? Is it because it makes others feel like they could also do it? I'm my eyes; these are prompts. These are slivers of ideas to go off of.. and create a beautiful poem with. Doesn't a true creative WANT to create something beautiful and profound with these ideas? Isn't that the point? It almost feels like poetry is being dumbed down. It's a slap in the face for people who truly take the time to pen out pieces of work... and puzzle them out over time. 

The other day I was so fed up with reading these stupid sentences in a poetry collection I was reading. Just single sentences on a blank page, which by the way... is a huge waste of paper. And I decided I was going to sit down and try my hand at "bad poetry" just to make myself feel better... and I swear my BAD poetry took me 15 seconds to write and was probably 3 times better than half the stuff out there being published. How is this happening and WHY? Why are people being manipulated into thinking "I can't love you into being a good person" is worth $20.00? And who decides what bad poetry gets published? There is at least MEDIOCRE poetry that is just as easy to understand... so what gives?

What are your thoughts on this type of modern poetry?

[RiverNotch]

I'd echo what our new (or maybe """new""") member said, in that mass media in general is inundated with crap, and has always been inundated with crap, e.g. the reasons behind Pope's Dunciad.

From where I diverge is their comment that one is not being published because their work is neither good nor bad enough. In general, the quality of a work doesn't impact the chances of publication at all, only the chances of popularization and preservation. You could just be well-connected or rich, or your work could simply connect to a very particular, and thus ultimately ephemeral, aspect of your time, one that seems most lucrative. I theorize the aspect to which Instapoetry connects is the various algorithms that hook us to their respective social media platforms, with the genre dying as soon as everyone moves to Bluesky xD

For something more practical, I've been reading bits St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite's Exomologetarion, and his advice against profane and blasphemous thoughts is to simply ignore them -- is to not even confess them, if one doesn't dwell on them or act on them, because they are so unworthy of anyone's time....

[busker]

 How is this happening and WHY? Why are people being manipulated into thinking "I can't love you into being a good person" is worth $20.00? And who decides what bad poetry gets published? There is at least MEDIOCRE poetry that is just as easy to understand... so what gives?

One word: marketing.
If you have the right person backing you, who can pour millions into putting a shite collection of poems (but with a pretty cover) into every bookshop, you have a start.
People will complain about the shite book. But that will give it publicity.
People who haven't read a poem in their lives will pick up the book just out of curiosity. They will see a 'published poet' say

The echoes of your heartbeat
drown me.

and go 'wow! that is just like how I write! this is a poet for me!'

You can possibly write a book on how man never went to the moon and if it has a pretty cover and has some marketing behind it...

[Magpie]

It seems like poetry for blog world. 

Blogs and other social media platforms kind of ruined elements of the poetry world by making people think they are good poets. Post a shit poem on a blog and loads of people will click the like button and then leave glorious comments of adulation. It's what people want from the world these days and it's such a woke culture that criticism is strongly discouraged or in most cases not wanted at all.

Had those two examples been posted on here 

the sound of your name
still gives me bruises.

Has potential as a senryu type of poem if it was edited

the sound of your name
gives me
-- bruises

but I wouldn't say put it in a book with a load of others.

and

i'm not a cure
for your boredom.

Is cliché and impossible to save

[Valerie Please]

I honestly agree with MP that the lines 

the sound of your name
still gives me bruises.

are great and salvageable. To me, the problem is that it's a great line, but not necessarily a great poem. Who are these people in this poem? What's the context, where are we going with this idea . . . who has time for this in an attention economy? Attention is now power, money, and privilege and you'd better be constantly scrambling for the next idea you can meme. You got a great line, pair it with 13 different images and share, like, and subscribe.

And yes, we all want to wrap ourselves up in our fuzzy bubble where there is no criticism and no verbal violence as implied by Woke culture. But there's a larger problem. I was just having a debate with a friend about the "build a wall" motto that was central to the first Trump campaign and the embarrassing response on the Left: "All walls are immoral." Really, it should have been, "Wasting time and money building a wall as a national symbol is a stupid idea" but, as my friend pointed out, that's too many words and requires too much explanation. 

I bet I've lost half of the two people reading this post already anyway. 

It seems like poetry for blog world. 

Blogs and other social media platforms kind of ruined elements of the poetry world by making people think they are good poets. Post a shit poem on a blog and loads of people will click the like button and then leave glorious comments of adulation. It's what people want from the world these days and it's such a woke culture that criticism is strongly discouraged or in most cases not wanted at all.

Had those two examples been posted on here 

the sound of your name
still gives me bruises.

Has potential as a senryu type of poem if it was edited

the sound of your name
gives me
-- bruises

but I wouldn't say put it in a book with a load of others.

and

i'm not a cure
for your boredom.

Is cliché and impossible to save

[Tiger the Lion]

I have so much to say on this subject but have not really reached any solid conclusions yet, so these are just observations. 

#1 - attentions spans are short
#2 - the 'general public' adore forced rhyme driven EMO poems 
#3 - arranging nonsensical flowery words into 17 syllable memes makes you a genius
#4 - a cliche meme will get you more likes and comments than the best villanelle. (this drives visibility by way of the Algos)
#5 - if you get an 18-year-old-bikini-clad-Thai girl to read your poem on You Tube, you might become a star
#6 - and here's the rub... while 99% of poetry out there is absolute shit, there are millions trying their hand at it and the 1% is worth         looking for.