Poets and Poems: Iain Thomas and “The Truth of You”

Iain Thomas was a writer and poet before Instagram, but it was that social medium that brought him to the attention of a lot of people. As in millions around the world.  

Thomas has published several books and poetry collections, including Every Word You Cannot Say, I Wrote This for You, I Wrote This for You and Only You, Intentional Dissonance, 25 Poems for the NSA, 300 Things I Hope, I Am Incomplete Without You, How to Be Happy: Not a Self-Help Book (Seriously), and [Dis]Connected. He combines prose, poetry, and art to make a powerful impression, and he’s been read and quoted by people like Steven Spielberg. Not to mention a reading of his work in front of the British Royal Family.

 

His latest work, The Truth of You: poetry about love, life, joy, and sadness, was published in March. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

The Poets of Instagram: r.h. Sin and “I Hope This Reaches Her in Time”

I’ve watched a video on Facebook that I almost can’t stop watching. It’s produced byJay Shetty, a British relationship coach, host, former monk, and, as he says, someone who is all about “making wisdom go viral.” Just so you know, Shetty has 14 million followers on Facebook, one million followers on Instagram, and 800,000 subscribers on YouTube.  His web site has received more than a billion views.

What likely caught my eye about the video is that it’s filmed on a bridge I’ve walked many times – the Millennium Bridge over the Thames in London, which connects the Tate Modern on the South Bank and St. Paul’s Cathedral on the North Bank. The video tells the story of Jack and Louise, and it’s entitled “When You Bump into Your Ex.” (It’s not yet posted on YouTube; if it were, I’d include it here.) They meet by chance, and it’s clear they’re still in love with each other, but both misunderstand what the other is saying.

I find the video fascinating because it powerfully tells a story, a love story. And it didn’t help that I’d been reading I Hope This Reaches Her in Time, a new poetry collection by Instagram poet r.h. Sin, which could almost serve as the script for the video.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Poets and Poems: Nikita Gill and “Wild Embers”

Nikita Gill is a social media phenomenon, and may very well rank as the No. 1 poet because of her celebrity. Rejected by more than 100 publishers, she turned to social media, and especially Instagram, where she has more than 262,000 followers (at latest count). She might even be called a “viral poet.”

Like social media, Gill bends genres. Her first published work, Your Body is an Ocean (2012), is ostensibly a collection of stories. But the stories often resemble poems. The same is true for what might initially be called a memoir, Your Soul is a River (2016). These are works that don’t easily fit standard categories, just like social media.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.