The One Woman Who Ruined Poetry (It's Not Gabbie Hanna) | Video Essay

[@drumblebee]

i feel like so many people who write this sort pop-lit poetry would be better off getting a diary.

[@chromaduckie5907]

I feel like they would take their diary to a publisher anyway

[@sydlawson3181]

Or a twitter

[@lessismore74]

But the people who write this way came up living their lives online, sharing their morning coffee and morning thoughts. A diary might not make sense to many of them, since they may not value writing that doesn't involve the eyes of another.

[@hi-i-am-atan]

@@lessismore74 i mean, you _can_ just publish a diary like, that was the primary purpose of livejournal and blogs, and from them places like tumblr and twittered inherited it. and, of course, the older formats inherited it from physical diaries that were published; not just those of a historical figure discovered and mass reproduced post-mortem, but also of living people who felt their lived experiences were worth sharing and found a publisher that agreed. hell, it's even a genre of fiction, stories built around the framing device of a character's journal or diary ( or, hell, even their blog ) ... i think i just made a case for the legitimacy of this genre of writing without entirely intending to. not anything on its quality as poetry, but as a format that genuinely engages and speaks to people ... yeah, it shouldn't surprise anyone how this sorta thing popped off

[@lessismore74]

@@hi-i-am-atan I'm not sure what you are arguing against from what I wrote. I was saying that a number of people of that specific generation might not see the value of a diary that *isn't* publicly shared. Sure, anything can be published that was once private. But it's probably also related to that instant gratification of publishing, say, a chapter of your life each day and getting connection from it, rather than amassing a collection of days that you then publish at a later date. I think many of these people want the instant gratification feedback of sharing something in the moment without waiting.

[@gracedeace8066]

A tumblr post I read hit it on the head for me “90% of poetry is Bullshit and 10% of it cuts you to core like a knife, and it’s a different 10 percent for every person”

[@Numbabu]

That must be poetry because I no longer hate poetry after reading it.

[@etagged]

Oh great, so objectively “good poetry” is a scam and it’s mostly a subjective preference. Are the classically loved poets byproducts of society, which is a corrupt institution?

[@registeredjopper]

​@@etagged yes

[@yourdad3275]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@etagged is “good poetry” poetry that appeals to the masses? the elites? who appoints the elites? objectivity is a scam in itself

[@etagged]

@@yourdad3275 The response to my comment really highlights the demographic of casual poetry consumers lol. I'm more familiar with literature than poetry. Tolstoy objectively appeals to a greater number of people over time because he was a wordsmith, masterful storyteller, and he touched on topics of human importance. Tolstoy is not a scam. Do what you will with that opinion as it relates to poetry.

[@RedPilledAsFuck]

let me try: “i can’t believe, you broke our snap streak. it’s like, you broke my heart.”

[@danielli9046]

you forgot to italicize the last line, and actually used correct grammar like putting the apostrophe in can't and it's.

[@Repetoire]

probably more something like "I should've known you'd break my heart, when you callously joked about the death of our snap streak, as if it never meant anything at all."

[@sanchitagolder]

i shouldve known youd break my heart when you callously joked about the death of our snap streak _as if it never meant_ _anything at all_

[@kimitohanahala8674]

i felt my mouth hole tingles i hear the calling i go to the toilet i shat my brown load - _the feeling was imapaccable_

[@amylemcoauthor]

Oh lawd that is better than alotta the poems read here

[@MIKHAELBLACKFYRE]

Poetry is enjoyable when it articulates deep sentiments that I have not yet been able to put into words myself.

[@xobrynn90]

well as a straight dude you literally won't be able to relate so..... invalid argument

[@MrCmon113]

@@xobrynn90 Yeah, don't know what the smell of starvation is supposed to be. I'm just too straight for that.

[@wren_.]

yes, exactly. It’s defining emotions using words in a way you can’t really get with conversational language. poems are at their best when they’re specific. The poems made by rupi kaur and aliza grace are much too general. they don’t create a specific feeling, the wordage is too basic

[@kamu747]

They dont create a feeling you can relate to. But clearly teenage girls and some boys are relating. She's writing at a level that a multitude of adolescents have appreciated. That's the target audience her poems connect with. I have no issue with these genuine fans. Another segment is the followers of trends, people who ride the waves of what's popping regardless of how they truly feel about it, mentally surface dwelling peopling, you know these. "Kaur is wealthy and she has millions of followers therefore i must like her and her products" they think to themselves. These are the foot soldiers that idolise these artists. These are the problem in society. ​@@wren_.

[@GLEPPPPP]

hi mr. wesker :)

[@LilDP]

"I thought to leave this blank but who am I to name us nothing?" Instant chills.

[@user-jq1mg2mz7o]

that line reminded me that poetry is good actually, after the beginning with those tiktok lines lmao

[@shanel4294]

This, I had to go find that poem ASAP, I feel like the young black boys are so lost

[@grants5399]

"what once passed for kindling" hit me as hard as the fingered line does. both hit like a truck, but it different ways.

[@5050clown]

danez is incredible

[@joeysoftpaws]

@@grants5399 that line absolutely wrecked me

[@Alex-lt9hl]

I work in a bookshop. Our poetry section is tragic, Kaur's poetry make up half of the section. People buy them a lot, and say that they are just starting out with poetry. Kaur is a good gateway poet: you can start with Milk and Honey, just don't end on Milk and Honey.

[@alexandragrace8164]

I think if you started reading Rupi Kaur, you would be so put off poetry you’d never read any more poetry!

[@lemonbundy8044]

i work on bookshop too! whats popular in where you from?

[@Alex-lt9hl]

@lemonbundy8044 Hiya, I'm in Australia. Young Adult and SciFi are very popular, especially the ones that have been made famous from TikTok. Business books too sell like crazy, not my thing lol but I get it somewhat. How about you?

[@lemonbundy8044]

@@Alex-lt9hl young adults and business books - same. Sci-Fi - no, just fantasy instead. Asian and Slavic are most popular Classic literature as well - Louisa May Alcott, Oscar Wilde, F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy

[@lme2089]

I worked in one too and we had two tall bookcases for poetry and literally one of them is classics and the next one is pretty much all similar formatted soft matte covered little post tumblr era insta worth "poetry" books. Lol they actually didnt sell that much either tho.

[@TheMagnificentMrM]

"Learn the rules before you break them" is one of my favorite sayings to live by.

[@asherroodcreel640]

​@randomusername1735you ever heard of the loung lizards

[@mysterium364]

Have you tried the modes? How about the alternate modes which have the half steps at different places in the scale relative to each other, like lydian dominant for example?

[@Mage_Chartreux]

Just another rule to break.

[@asherroodcreel640]

@@Mage_Chartreuxyou know don't jump off tall buildings is a rule too . . .

[@Mage_Chartreux]

@@asherroodcreel640 Hell yeah. You get it.

[@s0urp0wer5]

My biggest pet peave is a "poem" that literally is basically a paragraph with arbitrary line breaks to make it look like a poem. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

[@mmaantj]

My biggest pet peave is a "poem" that literally is basically a paragraph with arbitrary line breaks to make it look like a poem. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about

[@luchirimoya]

Peeve* I'm sorry, my biggest pet peeve is bad spelling lol 😭

[@s0urp0wer5]

​@@mmaantj🎉

[@sknk.hunt42]

@@mmaantjHAHAHAA

[@revenge0lobster]

THIS.

[@Kenzthekid645]

I wrote an amazing poem in middle school. Here it is. “There was a pub in Dublin, That left their bread a crumblin’. They forgot to add the Guinness they had, So the crumbs kept a tumblin’.” Best poem I’ve ever done.

[@littleladyradberry]

Cool

[@hedhuntervizo6749]

Hahaha 👍🏿🤣

[@Rahwriteswords]

Cheers 😂

[@justsomeguywithoutadoubt5083]

Best poem ever😂

[@jyggalag_]

Lmao

[@fuzzyblurrydotcom]

I find it really striking that so many of these less clever poems seem to just be selling bitterness and a paranoid mindset to a particularly vulnerable audience. There's value in expressing trauma no doubt, but take for example the piece about looking through your partner's social media - it's just espousing paranoia with no depth beyond that, and that seems to be a trend. It speaks to me a half-considered worldview, a blurting of emotion onto the page with no consideration for how it could affect either the reader or the writer, no reflection.

[@Turboweeel]

A quick find and replace could make your comment easily come from a conservative looking to get lgbt-containing books banned.

[@lilliantookey9241]

Absolutely. I love this observation.

[@sodium303]

so basically a "pick me"

[@bexiexz]

i love this reflection x

[@prettyroach]

after finding out rupi kaur stole, watered down, and cut off her mentor Nayyirah Waheed it all made sense. Waheed's Salt is powerful because of its poignantly concise yet precise(it went so viral its cheesy now) Kaur's work that tries to sound like it lacks that sense of life and direction

[@alylopez3721]

THISSS THIS THIS. Cuz I’ve heard/read online that when nayyirah waheed tried to reach out and get rupi Laura attentions over the “similarity” of her work that she supposedly blocked waheed… that’s not a good sign that she didn’t copy.

[@VariousAndSundryBee]

Thank you for introducing me to Waheed.

[@mryshkh]

both Nayyirah and Rupi heavily copied Warsan Shire whose work was very popular on Tumblr at the time.

[@maddieb.4282]

YES

[@MISSMADISONMEDIA]

I am just now realizing they aren’t the same person

[@nicholsonfile]

"Poetry for People who Don't Like Poetry" is what comes to mind when I think of Rupi Kaur

[@shivanisingh-qh7vp]

Exactly

[@neurotoxic1830]

Rupi Kaur's poetry makes me feel so terrible about mine. Some of her poems were featured in my english study book. English is not my native language but i write poetry in english, edgy as it might be, it makes me feel so icky and bad about my own when i tried to analize her not so meaningful ones. Just makes me terribly angry.

[@Rose-lt6wu]

SO TRUE

[@kioumim]

@@priscilac7234 you went straight to racism, lost no time

[@nikkibee139]

that's crazy because i feel like the easiest way to make someone who already hates poetry, hate it even more, is to have them read rupi kaur. it reads like the exact stereotype of what people who hate poetry think all poetry looks, sounds, and feels like

[@Coratlan]

Unironically one of the best poems ive ever read was “When God sings with his creations, will a turtle not be part of the choir?” And it was in response to someone saying a pet turtle doesnt count as “a person named sheldon irl”

[@thatsagoodquestion5889]

I remember that comment. Beautiful

[@burrybondz225]

I don't understand the pet turtle part. What did that person say exactly?

[@noah8999]

Not really a poem. More of just a statement

[@denisborzov8406]

@@noah8999 a poetic statement nonetheless.

[@kck-kck879]

There's no hissing in the choir I'm sorry, turtle Your role is due to expire

[@firelunamoon]

I blame social media more than Kaur or any of her ilk. Once upon a time, these poems would have stayed in the poet's sock drawer while they continued to hone their craft. They would eventually mature to become decent poets and these early works would someday be called "juvenalia". And everyone who read the early work would compare them with the mature work and say "Ah, see how they developed their craft!". But now social media makes people think that unrefined skills equal genius, so this stuff gets published and lauded instead of being recognised for what they are - the immature work of a developing poet.

[@NAFProjects]

The "you'll look at him different" line in the stupid-ass "you can't trust your boyfriend" poem is italicized because it's adding "emphasis". As in, "these lines are the main messages, you can skip everything else other than the first and last line". It's as if the narrator is saying this line in a "dark, scary" voice. Basically it's the opposite of poetry

[@tentaclest.tentacles5090]

I feel like it's much to blame a single woman for the fall of a whole artform. I think we should look at the whole system that prioritizes sanitized marketable easy to consume art above everything else. The thing that kills art is capitalism above all else

[@cleibarnhart]

Agreeeed

[@TheGirlInGeekGlasses]

Agreed. Blaming it all on Kaur feels unfair and kind of icky.

[@josei1624]

She didn't kill it all. I think much more peopke are getting into desperate poetry because of her stuff than you might expect.

[@cooliohoolio30]

Well said!

[@DETODOUNPOCO7055]

Facts

[@volkov5822]

I really appreciate videos like this that don't just bash her for being "basic" and "cringe." This actually feels like a layered critique that acknowledges her strengths as well as her weaknesses. Well done!

[@sortof3337]

da faq you talking about. he is saying she is bad because she got famous and her poetry sold more. and there is no juding the quality of poetry. its not a fucking competition. people are just trying to speak.

[@Lucasp110]

My problem with her poetry is not that it's basic or cringe. It's that it's mediocre. There are people who do a much better work with the same themes, her work just seems kinda... Pointless? Self congratulatory?

[@Telltalesign]

@@Lucasp110 I think that's why she became famous, because it is basic aka relatable in a way. A lot of people are shallow, I'm not saying it's a bad quality, but seriously? Who are we to gatekeep the way we compose poetry?

[@Lucasp110]

@@Telltalesign not gatekeeping tho. She can compose whatever she wants, I just find her a talentless hack

[@Serendip98]

@@Telltalesign It's good enough for ordinary people. Margaritas ante porcos ? There are no margaritas here, only plain food for pigs.

[@ZaharaGamez]

She clearly has some really powerful poems in her arsenal. I wish she would focus more energy on poems like that vs the shallow ones she seems to specialize in. This was a very well put together video essay!

[@RoughestDrafts]

Thank you! Yes, I also wish Kaur would take more time with her poems. I know many people have been brought to tears by her more thought-out pieces. Thanks for watching!

[@saggguy7]

I think she accidentally pigeon-holed herself with Milk and Honey. She published that book at age 21 and it blew up, and she's probably grown a lot as a writer since then, but now everyone knows her for the easily digestible, what-you-see-is-what-you-get writing style in that book. Good poetry is often challenging to read and understand, the audience she cultivated with Milk and Honey by and large doesn't want that, and it doesn't make very much room for her to imrprove if she wants to sustain her income and relevancy. I wonder how much of her continued use of that style has to do with audience expectations rather than her actually thinking they're good poems.

[@WhizPill]

Stop the cap

[@hommefataltaemin]

@@WhizPillright? Same thing I thought, like come on now we don’t need to lie 😂

[@ShengFink]

⁠@@hommefataltaeminwhy would they be lying? people can disagree with your opinions in good faith lol.

[@viclenny3872]

so glad i found this video, amongst the other videos, and decided to watch this one

[@janson2911]

I love the “Two bros chilling in the hot tub” meme. It’s so meta and it caught me off guard . First I thought it was really written in the book and that vine was just using one of milk and honey poem. And then research and realize that the tweet is the meme in itself and it fits so perfectly with the poems in the book that I had to question it for a moment. One of the best laugh I’ve got from somewhat an educational video

[@zachzackzak]

Alternate Names for Black Boys is such a perfect example for a poem that breaks form. It is so evocative and so completely a poem while being comprised of short lines that could get mistaken for Rupi Kaur-esque writing to someone not poetically inclined.

[@liathompson2332]

It's a beautiful piece

[@cito2820]

@@liathompson2332 Danez Smith is amazing!!!

[@genericname2747]

I like the contrast. Lists are nothing. You put groceries and tasks on it. And then it's a list of suffering.

[@leeannpelletier4117]

Also he is a spoken word poet too so that definitely impacts the form of his poems

[@veravye]

my favorite poems are the ones that make me wince- like, genuinely take me aback. "guilty until proven dead" and "monster until proven ghost" made me actually hiss? oof? make some pained noise out loud. and the other descriptions were beautiful as well. i was really impressed

[@AngelineProductions]

Rhythm isn't the same as meter, though. "alternative names for black" boys still had a rhythm. It had structure too, even though it didn't follow a "traditional" poetic structure. It evoked strong emotions and visuals. All of these are distinctive of poetic prose. Poems need to have rhythm, structure, and emotion - but HOW a poem does that is under the jurisdiction of the writer.

[@panfilolivia]

great comment

[@alexandragrace8164]

Exactly! Well put.

[@Edible_Kittens]

The fact that he said the appeal of complex poetry is based on solving them like “a puzzle” is telling too. Lol. Poems aren’t puzzles. Truly great poetry should be able to instil emotion in the reader through abstraction alone, it is not about the act of “deciphering” like a more adult version of Blue’s Clues. I know this vid is just some guy’s opinion, but he’s certainly one to talk about the degradation of poetry when he does not get the purpose or nature of it.

[@panfilolivia]

@@Edible_Kittens i disagree. Poetry is both style and substance and everybody has their own biases. Prioritizing one over the other is respectable and poets themselves do it all the time

[@zprouk3091]

Thank you! The rhythm is not that apparent on the page, but to read it out loud and then say it doesn't have a rhythm... I thought I was going nuts for a second there. Count the number of stressed syllables per line, where they're placed and what happens in the meaning of the text when that pattern is broken (the single "gone" in line 8 wouldn't hit half is hard if it didn't break expectation, like someone suddenly turned off the music). It's not traditional meter, but it shares a lot of DNA with it for sure and is absolutely, 100% deliberate

[@nicjolas]

tbh i think the reason she consistently breaks formatting conventions of poetry is because she's designing her peoms with a graphical design mindset instead of a traditional one. when she chooses to italicize or underline something, i interpret that as an intentional attempt to make the readers focus on it and imagine/assume some sort of deeper meaning. now whether or not it was effective at doing so is another matter entirely

[@Trollificusv2]

Well, also consider that they're "peoms". I mean, who can say, really?

[@50iraqidinar]

The problem with Rupi Kaur's poems isn't the formatting. It's that they're dogshit.

[@HkFinn83]

Or she has no idea what she’s doing

[@ananyasingh7308]

That is completely fine but even without that her poetry is trash.

[@elguardallavesdejaal]

The graphical approach already existed, those poema were called calligrams.

[@quinn-loop]

Just wanted to point out "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks as a good example of how poems can be incredible AND short. (And because I love it and will jump on any opportunity to talk about it.) Every choice and device in that poem is so intentional and evocative it hurts. Ugh, awesome job; I really enjoyed this vid.

[@princejellyfish3945]

Brooks is a great example of a modern, accessible voice that provides a lot of room for ambiguity and depth in her poetry

[@GEM4sta]

Just read this and thought it sucked. Guess it's all subjective

[@Decopunk1927]

I read and analyzed that one in 11th grade English class

[@personanongrata8690]

Explain that poem to me. I couldn't understand anything

[@silkentertainment6749]

I love that one !

[@randomguy9202]

The word "Reddit" being in a poem was never something I would have imagined

[@ghosty8193]

I like to call Rupi Kaur a 'gateway poet'..I got her poetry books when I was 15/16 and just starting to appreciate poetry and reading outside of an academic/graded standard. I have a special place in my heart for Milk and Honey but I can also accept that it's not outstanding poetry.

[@cloudtinnn]

same i got her book and started to read more poetry elsewhere, although I don't like her book that much anymore it did get me to read more

[@bajabl]

Me too!

[@hazelmayrose]

1000%

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

I am glad that it opened up that world for you. Granted, I've also heard people say they were turned off poetry by Rupi Kaur.

[@cloudtinnn]

Bt lowkey tho I remember that ppl who never even touched poetry were buying it. Overall I think Rupi Kaur managed to make poetry profitable and accessible. She’s not the best ofc but she popularized it among gen z

[@JohnMoseley]

'There's a better shine on the pendulum than is on my hair and many times .. .. I've seen it there.' 'Grandfather advised me: Learn a trade I learned to sit at desk and condense No layoff from this condensery' If Lorine Niedecker had lived in the age of Instagram, she could have had a much bigger audience, and she'd have deserved it.

[@amirrorballandadearreadergirl]

Would she have had it though? Instagrammers won't get this

[@JohnMoseley]

@@amirrorballandadearreadergirl I guess I just thought the minimalist simplicity would suit Instagramm well. And maybe that was a good enough excuse to share some poetry I love.

[@amirrorballandadearreadergirl]

@@JohnMoseley The simplicity may but not the words, they really won't understand 'em

[@JohnMoseley]

@@amirrorballandadearreadergirl Yeah, you're probably right.

[@phoneheaded]

I read Milk and Honey years ago as a preteen/young teenager. I had been groomed and assaulted, and was in the long process of realizing what actually happened to me. Some poems have always struck with me, like the one that invokes scraping a cantaloupe to represent assault. Re-reading the book now on the Internet Archive has made me understand that this work is less rooted in the expression of poetry than it is in the expression of trauma. I think this book is so popular and poignant because it is grounded in that survivor mindset, and as it simply outlines the cycles of harm many people endure throughout their lives. It is relatable for many, and it's simple and shallow phrasing makes that connection more accessible. She dresses down complex topics to appeal to people with similar experiences and it works.

[@suckedintothevoid]

I'm so sorry to take away the sentiment of your comment, but I laughed out loud when I read "pungent" 😂 I think you meant "poignant" -- pungent is usually used to describe something that smells really bad

[@bazhumke4040]

@4bbyw5 that killed me 😂 it's always the small mistakes that get me the most, if a paragraph is riddled with errors it's just a bit sad but one well-written paragraph that includes something like pungent over poignant can def be comedy gold

[@AvecPoesie]

How unfortunate. It reminds me of the episode of Friends in which Joey is dating the beautiful, intelligent Professor and continuously missuses the term "acrimonious" in his effort to sound smarter. Quite hilarious.

[@phoneheaded]

​@@suckedintothevoidThanks for pointing that out. I'm on mobile so I often miss the small things.

[@mooninmie395]

I think it's a pretty good description to say that it's an expression of trauma instead of poetry. Like Rupi doesn't really... take advantage of poetry as an art form I guess? he talks abt it in his video, how she makes choices that don't really have any intention behind them. she has some good prose and some striking choices of words, mostly in the use of her bluntness like you said with 'dressing down' and making the topic easily interpretable, but it's still not ABOUT the poetry really. It's about the trauma and the situation behind it... the one he read in the video abt the doll was a great example I think. Like it's structured like a poem but it doesnt QUITE read like one if that makes any sense. That's also probably why so many of her poems fall so flat tbh. She works best with a clear direction of topic/event/intent and all those ones that are just like, vaguely abt love or cheating or whatever... it's just not enough to carry her skills into making smthing good. to me it just doesnt feel like she *loves* poetry structurally or that she particularly cares to learn abt technique. just that she wanted to write abt those specific things, and poetry (esp insta-poetry) is concise and "easy" enough to do it. If any of that makes sense

[@qtea3.149]

Im giving it a go: oh no, I spilled my soda. I wipe over and over and over again, my knees wet and sticky with sugar. I think i need another towel. however my body stays.

[@TweakingIndividual]

im crying😢😟😭

[@just_maha]

Gold! 😂

[@globisdead]

"My body stays" a banger

[@qtea3.149]

@@globisdead Ty bro thank you Based that shit on the time I had to clean up Dr Pepper and ruined my favorite sweatpants You will be remembered tie dye Barbie Walmart pants 😢💔🕊️

[@melodyborg6164]

I like that you included some of Kaur’s better poetry in with the duds in your analysis here. Personally, I think the biggest problem with most Insta poets is that they don’t read poetry (except other Insta poets), which means it just gets more and more derivative and basic. Side note, I think Insta poetry can be good, too - some of my favourite poems are short Instagram posts by a woman named Segovia Amil - but she fits a lot of imagery and impact into the limited space. “I must unlove you” in particular is one that’s stuck with me

[@infinitemausoleum721]

I can't blame Kaur for the slew of copycats, just like it'd be weird to blame a musician because there's a horde of cheap clones after they hit it big. The contrast between Kaur's work and Hanna's work is tremendous though, in a way I wasn't expecting and a way that made me respect her work a lot more. Kaur's poem obviously is genuine, Hanna's feels like a really weird and uncomfortable joke.

[@mandarina4157]

Both suck tremendously, come tf on.

[@Splattedable]

No it might just be the specific examples shown, but the difference was actually pretty surprising. It's like what I think I can do when I'm criticizing strangers on the internet vs what I can actually do when I get off my ass and try it.

[@lumityviktuuristanartist4100]

​@mandarina4157 I Think They meant that atleast kaur wanted to make it by heart despite sucking so much at it but gabby well....

[@Blue_3987]

​@@mandarina4157 agreed 💀

[@princessreese22]

its giving "if the light is off then it isn't on"

[@blxrwtch]

Leave Hilary ALONE!!!

[@anzaia2164]

I have a little theory on Kaur's weird use of formatting: She is a poet, *and* a photographer. I believe the formatting is her mixing a bit of a visual medium in with her written medium of poetry. The formatting is not just influencing the way the way a poem is read, but also the way it *looks* on the page. It gives the page a composition, as an image. I believe that may be what Kaur is playing with here.

[@starleopard]

I agree, I like to do odd formatting sometimes when I intend the poem to be read on a page. I think making unique use of line breaks, indents, italics, hyphens, capitals etc as well as how it looks visually as a whole at a glance all change how you intonate and read the poem in your head and can make an impact on the reader's experience

[@ishathakor]

it's absolutely what she's doing and it's also what some much better poems do. it's just that kaur has nothing to say and no writing skill to speak of

[@starleopard]

@@ishathakor I agree with you, don't love her poetry either. but not because of how she arranges her poems visually lol

[@KurtesolWafelosi]

aaaaand i dont like it

[@beccak8166]

​@@hiverbleu8878both poetry and photography are actually art

[@Thrarm]

heres my poem My favorite emotion is blungus Blungus has no definition. Blungus can be anything you want it to be. You feel blungus, don't you?

[@jackalexande]

I really like this poem

[@Sweetheart-qh5li]

I hope ur trolling, lol

[@danmorgan3685]

Kaur's contribution was to get famous writing poetry centered around social media. It's an example of garbage in, garbage out. The input (social media) is irremediable shit so your output will be shit as well.

[@_sty__le7433]

The worst part about these "poets" to me is that they will sell these books that are essentially 50% blank. They leave too much free space, skip pages, fill others up with just one word. It feels so predatory to know they are selling half a product for the price of a full one. It's really tragic to think we might not see another Sylvia Plath or Ted Hughes in our lifetime.

[@leeannpelletier4117]

Try reading Aria Aber! Terrance Hayes, Jericho Brown, Chen Chen

[@talkativeacademy4528]

I think we will! The "poetry" market is just more saturated nowadays and it may be challenging to go through all the background noise.

[@colbyboucher6391]

​@@talkativeacademy4528As someone who knows nothing about poetry the idea that it's _more saturated_ now is mind-blowing

[@talkativeacademy4528]

@@colbyboucher6391 In the past, editors had to choose carefully what gets published and what returns back to authors. But now the market has changed. If you want to publish your work and you have the funds to do it you don't depend on mercy, taste and preferences of a publisher, you can go ahead and publish it yourself. And if you're an influencer with a signifficant following, the publisher can decide to do it regardless the quality of the work because followers will buy it. This way more works get published and real gems may get lost or overlooked because even though poetry is not mainstream - it never was - but there are people who buy work of their favourite influencer and reading it makes them feel wOw I'm sO dEep. Gosh, I sound judgemental 😁 Bottom line is the quality poetry still exist and not-so-great poetry never had better chance to be seen.

[@sohinidutta97]

Some books aren’t even half filled. Half filled would need at least half of each page to be filled. These books cover maybe 10% of the real estate they are selling. It’s sad to be honest.

[@uniqueusername69]

rupi kaur is a good introduction to poetry when you're in your teens. but when you're approaching 30 and still post "milk and honey" or lang leav, it's time to explore different books.

[@bobsonny]

don't shame people for liking what they like

[@Inuyashagirl2015]

And if you don't get into poetry in your teens, then you just shouldn't get into poetry, I guess? 😂 Gross to gatekeep because you were *privileged* that you got invested in poetry earlier in life and had the chance to work through "good" vs "bad" poets as a teenager so that later you could be superior and judgemental about it in KZbin comments. You even make up an arbitrary age by which people need to have figured out that they dislike a poet that you dislike or else they're... what? Immature? Stupid for starting late and only having seen Rupi Kaur because they have to start somewhere and she takes up half the bookshelf? You're the reason people don't feel welcome in your community. Check your privilege.

[@sunkintree]

I dont think it's a good introduction at all. To small children, mayb

[@sunkintree]

@@bobsonny It's not my responsibility to make sure people dont feel bad about something that really doesnt matter anyway. Be responsible for your own emotions.

[@philipmcluskey6805]

pr...a good introduction to the world of fakery....the last thing teenagers need

[@dinkaboutit4228]

The only difference Between a poem And a sentence Is how many TIMES You push the Return key */s FFS

[@coolbro6969]

Best Poem Ever

[@rollinontheboard]

"Return" key All cultured pepole are of usine int that it has entrance entry key that what is is it because return very and hipster usage in return but enter is very cool and dignification

[@haze-the-alt]

I love the nuance you brought to this discussion. When I was first learning poetry, my dad had me practice in a super basic text editor. You couldn't have special spacing, no italics, bold, or underlining, and no spell checker. And the final rule was no punctuation. I think it was really good for me to focus on the intentional word choice and imagery- though I'm kinda glad all of that poetry was lost when the hard drive got fried. Poetry is so beautiful and meaningful, I think we need a lot more.

[@josephwritessongs]

Wordle Was tricky This morning I miss you

[@AnABSOLUTEBarbarian]

I am a SA survivor and woman of color and never felt Kaur’s work represented me or reached the depth of the issues she attempts to tackle. The term of phrase, “lacks the depth of its convictions,” comes to mind.

[@msunje9862]

It is not going to represent and reach all people of color. However lot of people enjoyed milk and money. It works for some

[@sandworm9528]

I think underneath discussions of techniques and stanza and structure etc. What people really want to read is something written by someone whose convictions lack nothing, and whose life has been shaped by them

[@theothertonydutch]

Milk and money may have been a typo but it is an excellent turn of phrase.@@msunje9862

[@c.w.8200]

Some people will cry and describe how deeply they were touched by Katy Perry's music and how it helped them survive some terrible experience. A lot of people don't need more than the shallowest of popular art, the bestselling books repeat very surface level, commonly known plot points and "wisdoms" but for a large number of people that's what they respond to with just as much genuine emotion as an educated or sophisticated person to the art that speaks to them. It doesn't mean you feel something deeper or better, just means your brain is adapted to analyse and probe a little more, you're filtering what you allow to elicit emotion more. I'd argue that's a neutral accomplishment, of course you're right speaking for yourself but it's impossible to define what's a culturally appropriate expression of trauma is to everyone, even in a sub group you belong to.

[@AnABSOLUTEBarbarian]

@@c.w.8200 I never attempted to define what’s culturally appropriate for a sub group. I spoke solely from my perspective. I never used even a royal “we.” I just said I never identified with her work.

[@deaconworrell]

Kaur didn't ruin Poetry, she is, as you said, simply the lottery ball randomly ejected out from the tumbling bin of numbers all media industries became once the internet refashioned the landscape. If it hadn't been her, it would have been someone else. There's been a ball for every form of media. By eroding the formerly peer-reviewed, hierarchical and consequently gate-kept models of determining who has a shot at popularity or historical significance, the internet organically ends up producing Schrodinger's Artists like this as a result--neither relevant, nor irrelevant; insignificant nor significant; untalented nor talented; undeserving nor deserving. Comedy had Dane Cook. Fiction had E. L. James. Every industry is going to get them, we're just in the process of experiencing the first ones. We're used to thinking of voice as a byproduct of authority, and the internet has kind of flipped that around. Kaur isn't influential because her work is--Kaur is influential because she is influential; her work is influential because her work is influential. She and the others are perfectly tautological representations of the tautological age western civilization has now entered.

[@kynaatawan5967]

Great comment

[@pitchkinker]

Fantastic and aware summary

[@ocher8931]

I wish I saw more of this on the internet. 👏🏿

[@verylostdoommarauder]

The west has fallen Billions must read bad poetry.

[@wonyiism]

she did because she ushered in the era of insta copycat poets. theyre all just copying each other now and real poets are struggling

[@Dryadkal]

Just because you Place a sentence In paragraphs Or something Doesn't necessarily mean you Created something deep

[@no1weezerfan]

I'm crying this is so deep 😭 😢

[@Neil_09]

​@IsaiahDostoevski same why?! 😢 😭

[@Ashley-gq8ot]

But does poetry Always have to be deep Or Can it just be Self representation And Expressive?

[@nihilisticnirvana]

@@Ashley-gq8ot hey to answer you(r) question no

[@sanchoperez1017]

@@nihilisticnirvanadamn that was good!

[@joycekellyVas]

As a Brazilian, I've read some of Rupi's poetry TRANSLATED. If you think that in English is not deep, and well produced, Portuguese is just kinda frustrating. Then, I thought, "I'll read in English; maybe the translation was not good." However, it is mostly superficial. It really pisses me off, because, as a huge fan of Latin American poetry, I know there are tons of poets who dedicate their lives to literature and get no recognition. People who have studied for years and listened to all kinds of cultures to produce something life-changing.

[@eddieo-cheque2819]

If you read Warsan Shire’s poetry, it becomes instantly obvious that Rupi’s ‘good’ poems ideologically and stylistically cannibalise her work. It is why Rupi has been unable to replicate that early success in her new poems. There is little material to plaigiarise.

[@sarahm5936]

The honor also goes to the very popular Tumblr poets who paved the way for Rupi.

[@meimeipeach]

i’m so happy someone is talking about this. i’ve seen no one really talking about this besides myself. what really gets me about these poems is how OLD they get. not necessarily rupi’s poems, because she had an idea, that worked, and that essentially got dragged out… but so many of the authors who have followed her style decide to mention such specific topics i can’t help but think how ridiculous they’ll sound in, say, 10 years.

[@RoughestDrafts]

Definitely. A lot of these poems will feel dated very soon.

[@blahblahblaney]

Thank you because I hate her poetry. Truly I do😂

[@lalalala7738]

Exactly what doesn’t happen when you read the feminist poems of actual poets like Alfonsina Storni

[@user-og7qq5zy8p]

you've seen no one talk about this except yourself? as he pointed out in this vid, Kaur's poetry is super controversial and has received lots of hate in past years

[@meimeipeach]

@@user-og7qq5zy8p her poetry is not very popular where I live, and often receives tons of praise

[@mckenziepearmain]

i never enjoyed the poetry units in my english classes, because it felt to complicated and i felt like i wasn’t creative or deep enough. as i’ve been more exposed to more Rupi Kaur-esque poetry, it’s sparked my interest in it again. i find a lot that lack meaning but i’ve also found many that are so intentional and resonate with me, and have caused me to try and write a little poem here and there myself. this was a great concept to analyze and you did it in such an eloquent way.

[@RoughestDrafts]

Haha, thank you! Like I said, we honestly owe a lot to Kaur for renewing interest in poetry. And even as shallow as some of her poems might be, the fact she inspires other people to read and write is an overall good thing in my opinion

[@filsan7409]

I agree with all points

[@crazydiamond1273]

Idk. I feel like poetry should be complex. It should make you think about what author meant by the words they wrote. What story it tells. HOWEVER. My native language is Russian. And our language didn't change much to be honest, unlike English. Shakespeare, for instance, is truly difficult to read. Pushkin, on the other hand - not really. He used metaphors modern people cannot fully understand. Possibly. But overall, 98% of what he wrote is easy to comprehend. Beautifully, elegantly written.

[@glupik1234]

​​@@crazydiamond1273 Russian language has changed drastically over the last century alone. And Shakespeare translated in Russian is quite easy to read (my preferred one is Pasternak's)

[@crazydiamond1273]

@@glupik1234 я не считаю, что наш язык так уж сильно изменился, если честно.

[@koalemos1679]

Vague posting about men being trash is the lady version of alpha man content and gets clicks just as easy.

[@kamu747]

Critics of micro-poetry will probably hate one of Japans most famous haiku by Matsuo Basho. "The old pond A frog leaps in. Sound of the water." Thats it. Thats the poem. And there many more like that one.

[@MoistPinkTaco]

These are "poems" I'd be proud that I wrote in 5th grade

[@FabricadeBasme]

I think someone in 5th grade can have more interesting poetry than this.

[@1theatrechick]

I wouldn’t have been. My 5th grade poems had rhyme, meter, and meaning.

[@slowdownex]

Its not even that deep 😂 these are basically "@justgirlythings" memes word for word.

[@jewellier]

I'm a Russian-speaking person and seeing a poem without rhyme is bizzare

[@Hello-bs8dn]

Im Polish i fel the same 😂😅

[@dunamoose3446]

Yeah lol I like reading Russian poetry for this reason

[@everynewdayisablessing8509]

I'm Polish and prefer non-rhyming poems because we modern people can rarely rhyme very well, it just comes out childish more often than not. I like poems with good rhythm or musicality though.

[@GumSkyloard]

Portuguese guy here, same thing. I don't even consider "poetry" that doesn't rhyme as poetry. If it doesn't rhyme and isn't rhythm based, then it's just not poetry.

[@watching7721]

Blank Verse, poetry in regular meter by unrhymed lines, is the most common form of English poetry dating back to the 16th century

[@superplaylists1616]

I guess poetry is a lot like songs in the sense that they're like puzzles. I remember listening to Mitski's "A Pearl" for the first time, and, suffice to say, I was confused. Only later did I understand the lyrics were reference to a trauma. Maybe that person was in a relationship, but didn't feel comfortable sharing anything about their trauma. And they felt their partner was getting tired of being left in the dark, despite doing so much to help them through the hardships. And the lines 'feel in love with a war that had already ended' illustrates that feeling of holding onto a traumatic event that has happened a long time ago. 'and it made a pearl in my head, and I roll it around every night' also talks about how the event made a scar in her head. Pearls are made as a result of a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The pearl is created as a response to the traumatic event. 'rolling it around every night' means that the person is still haunted by the trauma, and revisits it every night. This was a whole story told through analogies and amazing writing. it could just as well be a poem.

[@Anindeterminateamountofbees]

Mitski is an AMAZING lyricist I luv her work so much

[@ii9462]

Mitski ia one of the few artist whose lyrics are on a whole another level

[@suraya_]

mitski's songwriting is absolutely beautiful and it never fails to get me to realize something new

[@arby133]

I thought the line was "nobody told me it ended", I saw it as building up a wall and struggling to open up to their partner not necessarily about trauma but just things in general because even though it's over it doesn't feel like it, the effects are still there. That's something I love, that there different ways to interpret the same work and all are meaningful. "My Love Mine All Mine" is one song that I think most people interpreted as it being about a person, but I love the interpretation that it's about the love I have to give, that that love belongs to me.

[@sam-nu6me]

Mitski is such a beautiful lyricist, I adore her work

[@lizoliver3021]

one of my favorite accidental poems was written on a listing for hair extensions. it said: Material: High temperature resistant silk fiber natural luster Like real hair and i live by that

[@bexiexz]

i do love that

[@soniachauhan4459]

A part of why people should read poetry is to uncover the uncomfortable in us. A poem is birthed out of sitting with tough truths and making something out of life's greyness. Insta poetry defeats that purpose. Its a small, easy to digest snack that does not ask you to face any difficult emotion. It underlines singular perspectives of relationships. There is no question being asked, no application of thought is required from the reader. Just a quick lick of a candypop and you FEEL. That's it. Great poetry stays with you, holds you through periods of darkness, points to the light, asks answerless questions, laments the deepest of human puzzles.

[@XWaffleKillerX]

I remember some fellow poets arguing that Kaur's work doesn't "count" as poetry, and I think that is unfair. Its poetry, and people connect with it. But what always pestered me about Rupi Kaur is that she seemingly became THE face of poetry. The capalist hellscape that we live in pumped her poems far and wide, and similar to some horiscopes they are deep enough to put yourself in them and connect with SOMETHING but shallow enough that anyone can fit in the mold, and they are generally just sharp enough to make a vauge point about the world, but not so far as to be offesnsive or challenging ( and risk alienating markets). So they reach and connect with a lot of people, which in a sense is beautiful because it gets more people thinking about poetry and may lead them to other works and self expression, but its so frustrating when the journey stops there. When there are so many rich deep complex poems out there waiting to be chewed on. To me, its not frustrating that people like Kaur's poems. It is frustrating that her poems are propped up at the EXSPENSE of a sea of richer, deeper, more meaningful poetry.

[@TheRonnieaj]

I feel the same way about EL James and Fifty Shades of Grey

[@leeannpelletier4117]

This!

[@SantaFishes101]

yes, thank you. well-said.

[@emilyrln]

This a million percent!

[@cheekykant3419]

I feel so sad for you that she is the face of poetry where you come from. I mean I have my own tastes and am german, so theres like about 25 men and women that I know by heart and about 500 more that I have read that I would put forward as faces of poetry instead.

[@shadowedcorners4448]

I'm glad you actually pointed out that some of her poems are good. It frustrates me because I love some of them, but a lot are bad.

[@coalblooded]

I only found and heard of Milk and Honey last year (it was in the Free Book bin at my library). A few of her poems really hit me hard, like the first "good one" he mentioned, about being held down for a kiss, because there's so much power and emotion in so few words (particularly for those who have been there or heavily empathize with that experience). Many of them were pretty "meh" to me, but the few that stuck out really did. I used to be way into poetry back in the day, but I'd kind of forgotten about it, so picking up that book kind of got me back into poetry again. The good poems made me remember how great poetry can be, so I immediately went back to my loves, Pablo Neruda and Rumi.

[@joeyisprobablysleeping8056]

I clicked on this bc Rachel Oates did a couple reviews of Gabbi Hanna's poetry, &, as a lover of poetry, used the opportunity to contrast Hanna's poems with, um, "real poems" that discuss similar themes. She showed why one poem dealt with the thene well & why Gabbi's "r/showerthoughts" poems did not. She's very knowledgeable & passionate about poetry, & it was a cool way to trojan horse good poetry into a Gabbi Hanna roast 😅

[@joycewible8816]

Love Rachel!

[@basilcreates8146]

oooh is it on youtube or tiktok...?

[@torbenbirch]

​@@basilcreates8146on youtube, they're long form videos. like, loooong, but totally worth it

[@patrickistruck]

⁠@@basilcreates8146its on youtube! she has many good videos on poetry (and she writes her own!), just search her name

[@meeracharlottebhagwati7316]

​@@basilcreates8146 youtube, i also highly recommend!

[@fel0k]

Modern poetry is instagram captions

[@jessiklovecine]

"Head, shoulders.. Knees. And Toes."

[@caesiumtable-baron7314]

"...And I... will break them all"

[@GEB_Rosee_PPS]

"My neck, My back..."

[@elize2952]

I really loved the idea of “perfect words in perfect order.” I think that’s why those types of poems bother me so much, because sometimes I try to analyze the way lines are separated and they make absolutely no sense

[@plop0r]

Not perfect, best. If we had perfect words we wouldn't need poetry

[@halfpintrr]

‘Alternate Names For Black Boys’ is so beautiful, made me tear up and I don’t know why? I had chills. I’ll be searching out the other poems done by that author.

[@Kamirose.]

I highly recommend their collection "Don't Call Us Dead." It is very heavy though - it deals with police violence and AIDS.

[@bufaloguerreiro7573]

The moonman songs also handle this, too many for me to pinpoint a single one specifically You can find his songs all over KZbin tho

[@mergenocide]

@@bufaloguerreiro7573 >trying to spread a 10 year old 4chan meme touch grass you terminally online mexican

[@jumpvelocity3953]

meta hyper virtue signaling

[@halfpintrr]

@@jumpvelocity3953 It’s not virtue signaling if it’s true? There’s no reason for me to say my feelings otherwise.

[@tcrijwanachoudhury]

From an ex english major and a writer of poems i agree with so many of these points! These are some tips for others writers that have helped me a lot (and i wish they were taught), feel free to add your own: 1. Avoid cliches it erases your unique voice: you are unique, so your experiences and the way you describe them sould reflect that. "I feel empty" "scared to death" while these arent inherently awful phrases, think of other ways to say how you feel that will help the reader get to know you. 2. Show dont tell- explore your senses: rather than describing something word for word, think of describing how it appears to you, so instead of saying "i heard a songbird" describe what that experience feels like e.g "springs soft melody arrived to me with wings" not perfect but you get the point, as per the last point this allows the readers to access your inner voice. 3. Subtly: this is self explanatory and similar to the last point in some ways, be creative in the ways you approach your poem you dont have to be literal. For example if a poem is about grief, rather than speaking about your experiences in a confessional way, "i cant stop thinking about life when you were here" dont be afraid to play with images and metaphors that remind you of being alone, perhaps the trees in winter without their leaves or a night without stars- dont be afraid to extend this metaphor. 4. Rhyming: do not feel confined by classic rhyme schemes aabb "so i saw a cat, sitting on a mat", not only can this give an amateurish feel to your poem but it isnt necessary. Play with internal rhymes, partial rhymes and other styles, like sonnets and villanelles or even forgo rhymes altogether! 5. Write about things you care about, and dont be afraid of what people think. And if you have nothing to say, dont feel like you have to write.

[@renatam.r.6762]

How strange it is for me to read that the rhymes there are Aabb. In Portuguese, this type of rhyme sounds too repetitive. We use abab or abcb or abac. And of course, if I remember correctly from Greek classes the rhymes of Antiquity were not even the main thing.

[@tcrijwanachoudhury]

​@@renatam.r.6762honestly it is a little repetitive, even in English, while theres nothing wrong with that style especially if it's done intentionally, Abab or Abac as you pointed out is usually preferred, especially in sonnets. I think rhyme schemes in general should be approached with caution because it can really confine you as a writer and can sound silly when done wrong, though that's just my opinion

[@TJV67]

Personally, especially with the English language. I feel like rhymes and rhythm really elevate a poem especially if you are writing about common topics about love or something.... because there is double the enjoyment of the content it self and the way words flow of the page. Obviously the rhymes should be purposeful. If you choose to forgoe rhymes ( which is totally fine ) your content and choice of words need to be high quality or atleast impact ful.....otherwise you get a slew of bad ' artistic' poetry that does not impact the wider public or just a drop in quality in general... just thought I'd share give my two cents 😊

[@spibow]

​@Shellyshell-bd8wlbecause using descriptive language, metaphors, or any of the tools above, can make that resonance deeper. Poetry is about being deliberate with your choice to do or, alternatively, Not do certain things. These tips and others help people write what they like and find audiences that resonate with it.

[@jugbrewer]

@Shellyshell-bd8wl sometimes it's helpful to get used to the "rules" of an art form first, and then know when/why/how to break them once you understand them

[@brianhiles8164]

*Observation #1:* These are not poetry, but _prosody._ This is not a deprecation at all, but just another descriptor. *Observation #2:* The brevity and timbre of these works remind me of Kay Ryan, a contemporary poet whose works have been described as “crafted literary jewels.“ (Now how assiduously I avoid the above issue!)

[@flyingfey4883]

There is one poem in Milk and Honey about emptiness/not being good enough, it’s one of the longest ones and it has a drawing of a rib cage on the page. I genuinely like that one

[@Metaporphsycosis]

I think milk and honey is best viewed as a collection/ extended work, I sat and read it all in one go and it definitely gives u a sense of her experience and struggle. I understand why Kaur has become the face of this debate but it doesn't seem super fair.

[@bubbles4897]

It seems more than fair. Spacing out words isn’t poetry lol And literally every poetry book is a “collection/extended work”, so I’m not sure what you’re tryna say

[@Aster_Risk]

It's completely fair.

[@lme2089]

If you're reading it in one sitting then it's not very good poetry

[@barbiemas1677]

I agree, Rupi Kaur is not for everyone and its definitely not the most complex type, but I dont think putting her on blast is fair either. Her work definitely inspired a lot of people and made them think they too could publish stuff they wrote on a whim and without any knowledge on the genre (I’m looking at you Gabbie Hanna), which is why I people resent her so much, but really it is hardly fair.

[@casperaaron5530]

@@lme2089 This is such a stupid metric.

[@orangesky9670]

Honestly my initial problem with milk and honey wasn’t even with the poetry itself, but the people reading it. I never thought her writing was very good, but like, there’s all kinds of easier to digest media that I enjoy, so who am I to talk. The problem was that all these people I knew read it and suddenly labeled themselves as smarter and deeper than other people because they read *poetry*. In my sphere at least, it really fueled the flames of a lot of “not like other girls” girls and the kind of anti-intellectual circles where people didn’t feel the need to develop skills to analyze media because they only wanted things that were easy to understand to make them feel smart.

[@chloeledean3999]

I agree with what you said at the end: constraints provide freedom. This is why I think haiku is a masterful way to go about short poems. Haiku really crystallizes “the best words in the best order”. Thank you for this video, and as a new follower I look forward to learning more perspectives!

[@alonehobo]

“That practically no illiterates are left, and that practically no literates are left either; nearly everyone is semiliterate, as the suburb has superseded the town and the country.” - Robert Graves

[@E_blanknamehere]

I dunno publishing can be easy if you're backed by money that can hire a publishing company. She gives me parents money vibes

[@blueturtle3623]

I read Milk and Honey, and it was really hit or miss. The ones that hit _really_ hit (if triggering at times), and the ones that missed really made me regret buying it.

[@Turhon-in4pk]

You have awful taste

[@mermaidpotato]

THANK YOU for actually engaging with Rupi's poetry on its own merits. I get so tired of people writing her off by comparison to other instagram poets, and it always reminds me of this reading she did of a pretty visceral poem about sexual assault and how much people were passing it around making fun of it for the way she was performing it. Like she was suddenly an acceptable target because other people were inspired by her to write worse poems. I don't think she's breaking new ground as a poet but the vitriol she gets has always seemed disproportionate.

[@cxxmax]

Rupi isnt a poet. She basically writes relatable instagram captions

[@Dontevenaskmebro]

Ts Eliot wishes he could write lines like these

[@mitchgeiger6932]

This is some great content! Love the nuanced takes here. Kaur definitely has some chops, but in her collections she opts for quantity over quality. Very surprised to be within the first 100 subscribers. Won’t be long before this channel really catches on!

[@RoughestDrafts]

Thank you, that's so kind of you to say! Thank you for watching! And to your point on Kaur, quantity over quality is a good way to describe the issue. Gotta fill those pages somehow. Even Gabbie admitted that was full of page-fillers. I wouldn't be surprised if other instapoets think similarly.

[@sarahmcdonald6980]

I think Rupi Kaur made poetry accessible to young women online, which is actually quite powerful given she’s addressing SA and intersectionality. The experience she is reflecting back is most often flattened within a form of art so often ensconced in academia, whiteness, and masculinity. Critiques of her often feel similar to calling it cringe- anything that young women like is dumb and frivolous. Some people need to read things about violence they’ve experienced in direct terms because they don’t have the luxury of working out a puzzle, they urgently need that connection and poetry as a saving grace.

[@starrysaturn4946]

If they need it spelled out for them then maybe it shouldn’t be in the form of poetry. That the fact that dissecting or analyzing a piece of literature is too much of an inconvenience to them is flat out stupid.

[@Jesei1211]

She’s just cringe get over it

[@sari9645]

This is a great point!

[@DrawtheCurtains]

People don't like it because it's bad. If you look at textbook examples of poetry and then at Rupi Kaur's work, you could argue that what she writes should not even be labeled *as* poetry. I get that young women do deal with their likes being invalidated and all, but the audience for Kaur's work is an afterthought-the work itself is where the issue lies.

[@DrawtheCurtains]

@@starrysaturn4946+1

[@fuzonzord9301]

I think one flaw of this analysis is that it forgets not everyone is highly intellectual or even highly self-aware. Some people are just banal and find these banal poems insightful. This kind of expression works for them both as creators or readers. Feeling empty and numb about traumatic events is just a literal description of disassociation, there's nothing really inventive about it, just telling how things are. When it comes to people's experience with poetry. If the poetry poll would count song lyrics, either read or just heard, it would be much more than 6%.

[@terraplane1116]

Agreed. We do, after all, live in a world where many people feel the need to decorate their homes not with art but with with bland Hallmark cliches printed on canvas, or the letters L-O-V-E propped up on any available flat surface, and our politics (I'm in the UK but the same is true in a lot of places, it seems) illustrates the power of stupid, superficial ideas to inspire support from stupid, superficial people awed by their apparent profundity.

[@Tomas-gw6rd]

John McWhorter argues in "doing your own thang" that Americans stopped reading poetry and get it from music now. Very early pop music from the early days of radio was very silly and light, when reading and memorizing poetry was a required part of school. This was also when rhetoric in political speeches was also prized, and more people read read for leisure. Then after ww2 things changed

[@tcrijwanachoudhury]

This is as good point, what we like is a reflection of who we are and plenty of people do resonate with Kaurs poetry, for better or for worse

[@andeggbreaks]

Song lyrics are not poetry. They are different mediums

[@user-yj7cu5sk2w]

@@andeggbreaksmany lyricists have been described as poetic… maybe that pisses off die-hard poetry fans? Yes, poetry and lyrics are not the same thing. They don’t have to be the same thing, though. Why? Because the public does not care. Poetry and song lyrics (today) essentially serve the same basic urge in all of us to analyze and understand shit, preferably shit that doesn’t take too long to read, I guess. And songs just win out, in the battle of where someone would go to feed that urge. There is an incredibly accessible culture around music. Poetry, not so much.

[@cervichthyoquine]

Koar absolutely has not 'damaged' poetry, but has influenced the poetry world for the time being, and over time a new 'damaging' or 'revival' of poetry will happen, and every period will affect different people different ways

[@cheekykant3419]

As a german I am highly opinionated on this subject. I feel very strongly about poems and I think as though the best way to define what poetry is, that it is the thing, which is lost in translation. Poetry can almost only ever fully be grasped in its complexity in your mother tongue (or requires a very deep understanding of the language in general, in some extreme cases you might argue it cant even be understood without a formal education). Its a home, its something accessible to one people. Its the soul of a nation and also highly individualistic. Its a language most sincere art. Manns Magic Mountain or Kafkas Trial are translatable because the main idea is the story. It is a different story for Goethes Prometheus or Heines Loreley. If your poem is just a sentence with normal syntax, split into three lines, that is VERY translatable. It is simply word art, not poetry.

[@HarperNell]

I feel like you being underlined in that one poem is emblematic of the whole problem with this style of poetry. In any case where there's even a little room for ambiguity, the writer is so insecure you won't get exactly what they mean they have to force your hand to interpret it in the way they meant it. I remember reading the poem metaphors by sylvia plath and having the teacher explain the little details of the poem that made up the whole, eventually revealing this whole story that wasn't clear upon the first time reading it. The fact every line had exactly nine syllables, the possible biblical illusion with mentioning apples- I just thought it was so cool. These poems make me so sad because there's nothing to be discovered.

[@zigzagzagoon]

Something that was hard for me to adjust to as I read Milk and Honey was how certain poems would have me rereading and analysing and then the page beside it I would forget within three minutes. I came out of the book a little tired and unsatisfied because I craved so much more of the substancial hearty poems and was being served lukewarm tea. Like, I knew Kaur had poetic ability, but she showcased so little of it and in such small quantities

[@Turhon-in4pk]

She is awful

[@mostfrozenburrito]

This video is incredible. I think more people should write poetry. Bad poetry is inevitable. We all have to start somewhere. As someone who is a poet on instagram, I am grateful to see such a rise in interest in the genre. Rupi Kaur’s poems can be so good. And I do think that simple poetry can succeed. But I do find myself sometimes writing stream of consciousness poems that could have been prose. Those poems happen but they can always be adjusted. Writing poetry has saved my life. Reading poetry has saved my life. Knowing how I feel and learning that others feel the same way is life changing. I hope that poetry continues to grow and flourish in the public sphere

[@Fluff-gl6yr]

Hitler, Hitler in the bunker, Listening to Ravi Shankar, Eating curry ‘cos he’s cultured, Wishes he’d moved to Leighton Buzzard.

[@Fluff-gl6yr]

I’m so very sorry

[@lilacsasndroses]

@@Fluff-gl6yr its okay (not)

[@jessabreu7825]

I do not typically comment on KZbin videos, but I particularly liked this one. You effectively criticized the following poets by offering advice and it was constructive. I am an aspiring writer myself, and I do enjoy writing poetry. Whenever I would read Kaur's work, I didn't feel like I was even thinking. I like poetry and literature in general because I feel that it offers readers the opportunity to think critically. But many of these Insta-Poets works seem so dull and meaningless. I wondered for a long time why so many enjoyed this type of literature but I did not, but this video perfectly describes why. Thank you for offering this advice; it lets me know exactly what I should and shouldn't do when writing poetry.

[@LittleMsElove]

thank you sm for this video!! i’d been waiting for a video like this on kaur for years now. i remember flipping through the pages of milk & honey at the bookstore in 2015 (it was the peak of tumblr soft grunge and i was genuinely drawn to the cover), growing so confused by kaur’s poems as they were so stylish, yet compared to the popular slam poetry at the time, her poems didn’t require me to search too far beyond what i what already knew as a young femme of colour. there is comfort in that which i understand. however, complex technicalities aside, i think kaur pulls a lot from beat poets and many of her less nuanced poems read like the last stanza of a spoken poem after most of the poem’s emotional intricacies and soul have already been established in the body and this is supposed to be the provocative mic-drop moment for the performer. in this way, her work can deliver a punch fast and remain accessible for a long time. i know it doesn’t sound constructive but that’s why i feel like much of her work functions like fan fiction, in the way that it skips the puzzling and potentially boring bits and goes straight to the “sexy good parts”. but that is not to discount the real trauma that informs her work and to say she’s not a “true” poet. while there might not be much to be studied from kaur’s poetry from a literary or poetic perspective, we might be able to make more meaning of her effort and popularity from a social and psychological point of view

[@lme2089]

This was so spot on!

[@buggy9094]

I completely agree with this video but I’d like to add one thing; a potential upside of Kaur’s work is its accessibility for younger/less experienced audiences. Although some of her work can be incredibly simple and lack a lot of depth, it makes poetry as a whole feel more approachable to younger audiences who may have only been exposed to more complex and difficult to understand poems in school (like you briefly mentioned). I bought one of her books when I was much younger and it genuinely inspired me to work on poems of my own. I don’t think I can say I’d be a poet now if it weren’t for that book, even if the poetry in it doesn’t hold up to my current standards/taste. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to poetry but I think having access to easily understandable poems as early as I did really helped me gain a passion for the art and allowed me to grow in some of my basic skills. Even if Kaur didn’t elevate the medium of poetry through her own writing, I think she’s inspired a new generation of writers to do so instead. Overall great analysis!

[@mryshkh]

To answer your question about why the titles are always in italics at the end of the poem, I think it's because this is taken directly from Tumblr, where Kaur originally grew her following. On Tumblr, a quote is formatted as the quote in normal text, and the source/ author/ title at the bottom either bolded or italicized.

[@neuromantic4313]

any idea why that format arose on tumblr?

[@eldritchtourist]

​​@@neuromantic4313Because that's how quotes are formatted. "Insert quote here" -- Me, 2023 It was probably intended for statements or excerpts from books, not poems, but may have started being used for that because it makes the letter formatting a lot larger and more eye catching than it would be in a regular text post.

[@neuromantic4313]

@@eldritchtourist ah. that makes sense. thank you.

[@rottenmilana]

There's a quote often attributed to ballet that I think can really be applied to any art. "Total control, and total freedom." Ballet is an artform riddled with rules, everything you do has at least 5 rules attached to it, but in that we find so much freedom and beauty.

[@zareenahmed8576]

this was probably the most nicest critique i've heard, like you didnt disrespect her but still made your own opinions very clear.

[@Bipolar.Baddie]

The problem with Rupi Kaur isn't necessarily her writing, but the fact that people think it's easy to mimic. Haikus are a great example of something that's deceptively complex. They're just an arangement of syllables usually used to describe a moment in nature, but those simple restrictions force every single syllable to be as well thought out and organized as possible. Kaur understands this, which is why even her least interesting poems still give the reader more to question than your standard Insta-poem. Great structure can make bland or shallow topics seem much better than they actually are. In academic writing you can have a fantastic thesis that you succeed in defending through evidence, but no one will care if the information is poorly structured or convoluted.

[@MedicFromTF2_REAL]

I used to be an over the top Rupi Kaur hater but now I've grown out of that. The good poems of hers you showed were quite impactful to me, like getting punched in the gut emotionally in a way... The one about the boy kissing her also subverts your expectations because the way it starts out, you might think it's gonna be a love poem and then it is very much not. I think she has a lot of potential and i agree about the "bad" ones that they feel very shallow and too obvious. I'm not sure but maybe the publisher pressured her to produce more poems cause she might not have had enough initially? Idk but i kinda hope that's the case. Anyway, i really enjoyed this video and it was interesting hearing about the definition of poetry vs prose and how to critique objective aspects of poetry. I myself am an amateur poet and it's always Cool to learn ways to improve my own work!

[@hawkins347]

I feel like we should bring editors back. I know the profession still exists but where are they, what are they doing? So much literature that comes out lately feels like it's never been seen by another human before hitting the shelves. Bad grammar, no or insufficient research into the themes and topics the work is delving into etc. Someone needs to start telling writers to do better again.

[@cameronfox4393]

I think Blood Meridian is essentially just a huge book of prose poetry

[@iansmith9125]

I couldn’t agree more 👌🏻

[@thierrynormandeau868]

That would be Suttree imo. Read the opening chapter if you can everyone!!

[@leonardgoggins7735]

mccarthy is just diet melville

[@cameronfox4393]

@@leonardgoggins7735 I like Melville a lot too! I haven't read as much of him as I have Cormac McCarthy. The only novel of his I read was Moby Dick, and the only short stories Bartleby the Scrivener, the Lightning Rod Man, and the Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids. I think he does have really good prose, especially in Moby Dick, but for whatever reason it had less of an impact on me than McCarthy. Maybe it's just cause I'm a sucker for violence, and McCarthy is definitely a lot more violent and descriptive of that violence than Melville.

[@leonardgoggins7735]

@@cameronfox4393 i actually do like mccarthy i was just tryna be contrarian lol. glad you enjoy both authors as well. have a good day :)

[@PwnySlaystation01]

Maybe the "this is your sign" poem at the end there IS open to interpretation, because I read it as the woman being controlling and paranoid, where you saw it as expressing that men cheat or have darker sides to them.

[@P0wderP1nkAndSweet]

she was trying to tell people to be controlling and stop trusting their partner.

[@Justin_42]

It's kind of unfair to blame the rise of "insta poetry" for the publishing industry choosing not to print talented poets. You pointed out that poetry wasn't doing well before this, and showed a graph that "insta poets" and other poets were doing better now; so it seems more likely that talented poets would get printed more often now that general popularity of poetry is up, and if they dont get printed; that it would have likely been the same when poetry was even more niche than it is currently.

[@qupjproductions2723]

I’m not a fan of poetry, but after you read some of Gabbie Hanna’s poems, it made me realize that Kor really isn’t that bad.

[@oakleywyatt1717]

I have always referred to this type of poetry 'enter key poetry' - where the only thing they really do stylistically is to press enter at jarring and arbitrary moments without saying anything of substance

[@sobekmania]

Yeah. I like calling it "ENTER poetry" because that's the defining feature of it. Not the words, not the imagery, but the odd formatting.

[@MRed0135]

Average jordan peterson tweet

[@aspiringbeamoflight7047]

The chokehold Rupi Kaur, lang leav and her husband had on people in the early 2010s was mind boggling

[@penguinsrbirds2]

Fun fact, I worked at a Barnes & Noble, and one of the employees at a different location in my city left a negative review for Lang Leav's book of "poetry" on Goodreads or something. Lang and her team then contacted Barnes & Noble and demanded that the guy be fired. I don't think he was actually fired, but there was a legitimate meeting about the possibility within management, lmao.

[@mattjorgdbb]

The ruiners of poetry are the same as the ruiners of literature and the ruiners of music and the ruiners of movies. It is not the bad poets and the bad writers and the bad musicians and the bad actors or even the bad directors. It is the publishers and producers who base their idea of good art on what makes the most money.

[@Aivilcurie]

as a poet I wrote a poem about how to write one of these sh*tty poems *- its still unpublished*

[@TheFuzzyOfDoom]

Marcel Duchamp signed a urinal and displayed it in a gallery. It's still considered art (Dada art). And people definitely got mad about it lol. I don't think you can damage an artform. You cannot control where an artform goes. People will make what they want even if it's the dumbest thing ever. I can appreciate that.