“I think the culture has become so increasingly pop culture oriented, that writing for many, has been confined to really only novels and songs. Poetry became archaic, distant and sometimes even uncool,” Tyler Knott Gregson said a humble poet from Helena, Montana.
After finding a typewriter in an antique shop, Gregson began using it to write his poems. He decided to utilize the web to share his work with family and friends. What he never expected was his popularity to grow to the point of hundreds and thousands of followers and his first book deal.
He hopes in some way to be part of poetry’s revival, and in large part, he has. The presence of poetry on Instagram and Tumblr has increased drastically because of Gregson’s contributions. Many poets like R.M Drake and Christopher Poindexter have even adopted his method of typing out their poems on a typewriter, sans editing. Describing his first poem on the typewriter, he said, “I typed it without thinking, without planning, and without the ability to revise anything. I fell in love.” Tyler describes the urgency offered with the typewriter: the inability to edit, revise or erase. It provides the opportunity to create an imperfect stream of thoughts. In the age of social media and 140 characters, the desire to filter and edit dissipates and you are stripped bare, left with raw organic emotion.
Chasers of the Light, Gregson’s first published collection of poems was released last month. In just a few weeks, it proved that there is still a large public hungry for poetry when the book climbed up to the No. 3 spot overall on Amazon for Poetry and No. 3 spot for Art. The book also debuted at No. 4 on the Chicago Tribune Bestsellers list, No. 4 on the Publishers Weekly and No. 9 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.
When promoting his book, Gregson said, “Let’s show the world that poetry matters. Let’s show publishers that poetry can become a bestseller. It’s up to us to push poetry back where it belongs.”
The name, Chasers of the Light comes from Tyler’s belief that everyone is always chasing a light: a person, a place, a job, a validation, something.
“We are all chasing something and I think it’s what keeps us alive, keeps us human and waking up,” Gregson said. “Chasing the light is about finding passions and having the courage to run them down, even if you never catch them.”
The interesting thing about this collection is that it has gone full circle: from being typed out on the typewriter, to being digitalized on social media and back to print in Chasers of the Light.
“We live in such a digital world now, it means so much to hold analog words. To put something out that will be in libraries and bookstores and hopefully, maybe just maybe, pass the test of time. I don’t know if it will, but holding them in a book gives me a lot more hope than looking at them on my computer screen alone,” Gregson said.
Modern day poets like Gregson, R.M. Drake and Christopher Poindexter have utilized social media platforms like Instagram and Tumblr to share their work with a widespread audience.
Much like Gregson, R.M. Drake is a writer whose art urges feelings of hope, love and empowerment. He currently has three collections of his work available on Etsy like Science: the stars in me are the stars in you, Spaceship: a collection of words for the misunderstood and Beautiful Chaos.
Poet Christopher Poindexter is not yet published, but continues to run a shop on Etsy where he sells prints of his poems. He has a following of over 160,000 on Instagram.
These writers serve as proof that you no longer need to be published in literary magazines to be recognized as a poet. With hundreds of thousands of followers a piece and their own online shops, they beg the question of whether social media may be enough to establish a name for yourself.
What is unique about these writers, is that although they have made a name for themselves through the use of social media, there are very few interviews about the men behind the keys. There are very few interviews where these distinguished poets are revealing anything about themselves.
“Poetry lives as long as people read it and say it and try to write it,” said Donald Morrill, Dana Professor of English. “Poetry tries to get at the mystery of the world, the seemingly unseen order of things, the vivid but elusive sense of life. How can one be fully awake without engaging the essential amazement in our situation, every day?”
When the new poet laureate, Charles Wright, was asked if he always wrote good poems, he responded, “I wrote junk for a year, and then semi-junk, and then quasi-junk, and then I wrote a poem,” according to USA TODAY.
The poet laureate is appointed by the Librarian of Congress and serves from September to May. Their main role during this term is to raise greater appreciation for the reading and writing of poetry on a national scale.
Poetryfoundation.org deems Wright “one of the best American poets of his generation.” Wright however does not appreciate this acknowledgment stating, “One wants one’s work to be paid attention to, but I hate personal attention. I just want everyone to read the poems. I want my poetry to get all the attention in the world, but I want to be the anonymous author.”
If you want to tap into your poetic side, there are a variety of poetry classes and opportunities offered on campus. Some classes include: poetry writing, poetic forms and directed poetry writing. Students can send submissions to Neon and the Tampa Review for a chance to have their poetry of prose published.
UT also sponsors a Writers at the University series, USF and Eckerd College are known to put on various lectures throughout the year with different authors as guest speakers. Some small bookstores like Inkwood, or small local publishers such as Yellowjacket Press hold events like their Annual Florida Poets Happy Hour, which took place on Sept. 26. Inkwood is holding a poetry night on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.
Brianna Kwasnik can be reached at brianna.kwasnik@spartans.ut.edu