This is the first try for a new project. I’m intrigued by the combination of short, imagistic poem snippets combined with art or a photo that some writers are doing on Instagram. Sometimes these instapoems are also housed on a blog and for some instapoets, their blog generates 120,000+ followers.
As a social media scholar, I have to take numbers like that seriously. Something that fills a need is happening there, a need that the more traditional publication process is not answering. So, I’m trying snippets with my own poems and art. In addition, just to make it a bit more interesting, I will work this project into the draft a day I’m doing for NaBloPoMo. I’m offering extra credit to my Intro to Poetry class students who complete 7, 14, or all 30 days with a draft a day in November. I always do it along with them and end up with many good drafts that can be revised into publishable work. Now of course, those drafts can’t be shared here because they then couldn’t be submitted for publication, but I certainly can share here on the instapoem days.
Consider this one a dry run for November. The snippet is from the title poem for The Tethered Ground.
Lanette Cadle 