In this Poetry Update
1. What’s on my desk & mind?
2. Writers worth SubStalking
3. What poetry and memes have in common?
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4. How to write meme-like poetry
5. Does this correspond with my poetry (examples)
6. Poem’s place in this world
7. Writers to follow up on
8. Insights to steal away
9. Lenses to borrow
1. What’s on my desk & mind?
I had a plan for Hush Halo. I expected to be a lot further along by now. By Christmas I planned to be buried deep in the next stretch of the dystopian saga. Well, I’m not. What you’re seeing published weekly is my vast back catalogue.
I figured that this ineffective pause is probably both healthy and necessary. With a bit of distance I can look at my own writing from bird’s-eye view. It’s enlightening to read your own work the way I’d read someone else’s draft. I’m a better judge of my writing when I’m out of the actual writing process.
As a part of my ongoing existential dilemma I took a deep dive into my old notes from 2024. This made me remember why I started Hush Halo in the first place. It was more emotional than I expected. I rediscovered even more weird material to source from.
I reconnected with the reasons I started in the first place. I recalled the core idea leading me to this format I write today.
Poems are memes
Rereading my notes I found the correlation between poetry and memes. A good meme says what you’ve been feeling to be the truth, even if it’s a bit sideways. A good poem can do the same in just a handful of lines.
In this Poetry Update I look at how that works, why it matters to me, and maybe you too as a writer.
QUICK SHOUT-OUTS
2. Writers worth SubStalking
Poetry on Substack is a small, niche-less village.
Only reason we know where the good coffee is, is because of other writers guiding the way. This is my a quick shout-out for you to start SubStalking my fellow writers.
Miles Hack is a fantastic supporter who has led me to many awesome writers. He’s a straight shooter in poetry, which I obviously appreciate. Start with Water and Shadow.
Mirage writes with soul, shining light on things many of us miss (sometimes on purpose). Her short posts and sharp poems echo in your head rent free. Exactly the meme effect I’m talking about today. Try Gravity.
Cassani Jones writes cool sci-fi at Imperial City. I’ve received so much support and praise, and I’d love to write poetry for Imperial City one day. This reader gets my weird and sometimes translates my message to their own audience.
3. What poetry and memes have in common?
A meme scratches multiple itches at once:
It feeds your curiosity.
It gives your resistance a direction.
It confirms that the thing bugging you really is real.
It accepts your weird.
It sucks you in to an idea or viewpoint.
All this in one glance. Often served with a cat pic, classic eye roll or Leonardo DiCaprio.
When you laugh over a meme with a friend or even alone, you are not alone still. You feel you’re not the only one facing some existential drama or a relationship wall. Suddenly you belong.
A meme works as a tiny proof that you are part of a bigger picture, a society, where others share the same issues.
What a poem can do too
Take away the cat or Leo, and a poem shares the toolbox.
Rhyming and rhythm of words slips into your subconscious like music does. It can hook you, give you a small jolt, hand you a quick hit of dopamine. You may not even realize what or why.
A poem doesn’t need pages or hours to do this. A handful of lines will do just fine, if they hit the right nerve.
We are built for this just as much as we are built by this. Our evolution relies on us taking in and passing on messages as stories, lyrics and stanzas.
Why this matters to me
This idea has carried me from the very beginning of Hush Halo.
Even a goldfish-caliber attention span can take in a poem, especially when there’s audio with it. That’s why I ended up making soundscapes for my poems. Even if I need to use digital tools to create them.
Digital tools? How I dare?
Easy. I don’t care.
Multivesseling my poetry means more to me than the tools I use. Every single piece published in my poetry books has an easy access QR link to the audio version of the poem. Sometimes it comes with melody, but not always.
Many people simply can’t read my kind of poetry, for numerous different reasons. I get it, it’s a lot to take in. I still want my message to be accessible for many.
Whether they like my writing or relate to it, it’s their business. But the delivery is my responsibility. I believe this multimedia approach is one way to get there.
How do I measure success in reaching over barriers? I got my teenage son to read poetry.
That’s something Braah. Right?
