Poetry Havens - How The Individual Site Is Saving Poetry
Imagine the Cafe Wha? in the sixties. A smoky room filled with black berets and beer stained tables floating about a shadowy stage where a man with unkempt hair and a hemp waistcoat spouts interlectual nuances regarding globalisation and the ills of capitalism.
Go further back. Imagine a man in a ludicrously baggy, white shirt strolling about the formal gardens of a tudor mansion with a book in one hand and a red rose in the other. A girl wanders along beside him listening to flowing verse and dreaming of legendary times.
Throughout the course of history, poetry has been the most romantic and stereotypes of all the arts. But what about the early 21st century poet? What image does he or she conjure in the mind? The berets still exist, as, in some instances, do the baggy shirts, but these days, you are just as likely to find a poet carrying a PDA as you are to find them with their poncy coffees and peace crisps.
One of the great, and often abused virtues of the internet is free speech and poetry is using this to once again blossom as a medium.
Type "poetry" into a search engine and you will get billions of results back, but this in itself is no mean feet. Type "dog", "turnip" or "shoe polish" and you will get a similar amount of results. But these are everyday things and poetry is an illusive rarity in our work-a-day world. So what does this mean?
These results could all be down to poetry from the past. From Karouac to Byron and far beyond, history has given us a plethora of poets all worthy of at least a casual mention on the web, but they have been given so much more. Take, for instance, a poet such as John Greenleaf Whittier, one of the 19th century's perhaps unappreciated lyrical figures. Type his name into Google's search engine and you'll find yourself trawling through over 160,000 pages that, if not devoted to him, at least make mention of his works.
So the first of the internet's gifts to poetry is a library. A free archive where fathomless tomes, brimming over with sonnets and words of love, hate, war and peace can be found and enjoyed by all who search them out.
Established artists recognized the internet's many benefits long ago. If you once attended a reading or bought a book by a particular poet, you are sure to find a bookstore's worth of material on the web regarding their work. Better than that, you will doubtlessly able to access even more intimate channels into their mind, thoughts and works by accessing their own website. Benjamin Zephaniah, one of the UK's most recognizable poets, has a website that demonstrates exactly how a poet can utilize the gifts of the internet. As well as poems by himself, he invites fans and aspiring writers to submit their own work. He has a picture gallery devoted to friends, contemporaries and much more besides. He has stuff for kids, teens, and music and videos as well news about the poet and the causes for which he is currently involved. This site's popularity, and the popularity of similar sites is testament again to poetry's healthy status among the online community.
But what about less known, and indeed, unknown poets? These fringe players, lacking in publication deals and saturday night slots at the local poetry cafe? The internet has given new and undiscovered poets a venue, free of criticism and competition where they can upload as much or as little of their work as they like. If you are committed to discovering the undiscovered, you can unearth a wealth of poetic gems lurking in the depths of the net. One quick search unearthed a site called musingsandpoetics.com which is the creation of a poet known only as "John". He has created a site devoted to his own works where he can arrange them as he likes and if anyone feels compelled to comment his email address is featured as well. Sites like this offer a glimpse into the world of emerging poetry from all over the world and whether the proprietors are influenced by Keats or McGough or anyone else, there work is just a few button taps away.
There are many sites which promote the social side of poetry as well. From The Poetry Society's homepage to the many forums that offer an environment based on praise and constructive criticism, poets about the globe are interacting in a way that 10 years ago would have been impossible. And it is from these sites, and the ever popular social networking sites that house many poetry creation and appreciation groups, that poetry's true popularity can be assessed. Hundreds of thousands of people are submitting, reviewing and praising the efforts of themselves and others all over the internet. Poets no longer have to skulk in the shadows or guard their works and passion from the public at large because the world wide web has given unto them a space where they can be who they really are.
Poetry is alive and well, and the baggy shirts and smokey open mics are no longer a necessity for the aspiring poet who can, from the comfort of his or her own home, deliver his message to the entire world with just a mouse, a keyboard and an imagination. Though if you're playing around with rodents and pianos, you haven't quite got it right yet. Why not check out some of the internet's poetic establishments mentioned here? For Benjamin Zephaniah's site click here. For musingsandpoetics.com click here. For links to the larger poetry community, why not visit the poetry sanctuary or the poetry society. Poetry isn't dead, it's just out of this world, and on the world wide web.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: March 28, 2008
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