“The meaning and luxury of poetry is closer than you think that,” I tell aspiring writers as they arrive at class wearing headphones, enthusiastic about TikTok trends or scrolling through Instagram feeds.
Because of their youth, they start to precise archaic ideas about what poetry is: something difficult to decipher and difficult to put in writing.
When asked to call a poet, they often retreat into the darkness of history, where they locate Shakespeare. Perhaps a reputation from a time closer to our own will emerge – Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath, for instance.
Then I offer them Dua Lipa and Benson Boone and show YouTube videos of “New rules” And “Beautiful things“.
After all, poetry has its origins in oral narratives. Long before Gutenberg invented the printing press, long before the Sumerians and others developed writing, people entertained, educated, connected, and comforted themselves through the lyrical word.
Whether it was short, memorized stories shared among the many poor and uneducated, tales of the past retold at community gatherings, or epics recited to the delight of royal courts, poetry was global and democratic. And it still is.
Poetic fame
Poetry was also a forum for messages with a large reach. Sex, sexuality, love, morality, law, injustice, mutiny… nothing was off limits to poetic exploration and dissemination.
Yes, even false, imaginary or speculative representations of the inclinations of the powerful and privileged. Fake news, actually.
Publishing eventually put stories on paper and certain them into book covers, limiting poetry and other types of storytelling to the minds and mouths of the educated. But poetry overcame this challenge through continuous development.
In the shape (sonnet, Villanelles, elegy), music (rhythms, rhyme schemes, meter), tone (serious, sarcastic, somber, sensual) and subject material, it has remained accessible across the centuries due to its ability to consistently deliver succinct, powerful narratives.
This relevance enabled poetry to present rise to the precursors of celebrity culture. Take the stunningly beautiful, rebellious, brooding and outspoken Lord ByronLike contemporary rock stars and influencers, he knew methods to encourage audiences by confidently “portraying” an individual in his poems.
Verses within the digital age
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Of course, the blissful Byronic era is long gone – or is it? No. His death was 200 years ago, however the suppleness of poetry that he fully embodied endures.
For example, you’ll find it within the lyrics that modern pop stars use in all genres of music – rock, rap, hip hop, rhythm and blues, country. It's all poetry.
Nor has it lost any of its earlier power and appeal. The personal performances that made Byron a star continue to exist in popular weekly poetry readings that feature Aotearoa's best and brightest verse writers from north to south.
Poetry has also adapted to the digital age and located recent opportunities by reinventing itself on local web sites, comparable to Best New Zealand Poems, Poetry Archive And Foundation for Poetryand particularly on TikTok, where short and concise verses fit thoroughly with the brand new media.
Poets can now use the “Stack of unsolicited manuscripts“ and the silence of conventional publishers to achieve hundreds of thousands of people that long for concise, stimulating texts.
Given the unregulated world of social media, this trend is probably inevitable with Complaints about plagiarism. With the event of Big Tech corporations, the death knell for art and artists is tolling. AI-generated poetry warned early on of a possible bourgeois future.
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Heart, mind and imagination
Of course it is correct to denounce the simulated creation of an art form as traditional and private as poetry. As a author, I recognise the threats posed by the loss of labor, voice, value, royalties and income. Essentially, it’s a lack of the unique identity that Aotearoa offers the world through its art and artists.
While I actually have no faith within the multinational tech giants and the indisputable fact that they put profit above creative integrity and originality, as a author with a 30-year profession, I place confidence in the Word – and at all times will.
AI can undoubtedly help anyone write a poem. But poetry – that channel for expression and emotion – has endured since it comes not from the screen but from the guts, mind and imagination. It belongs to those constant allies.
No artificial intelligence will ever experience this human essence, let alone truly reflect it. Nor can it ever understand the mobility and metamorphosis of the poetry I’m writing about here. It can only replicate.
So, whether it's National Poetry Day or another day, attempt to experience poetry created, designed and performed by people. Online too. But most of all, experience poetry created, designed and performed by you – in a way that no algorithm can match.
Don't give it some thought an excessive amount of – inside you lie the words, meanings, cadences, repetitions and experiences that only you possibly can release.
