New Era of Poetry: 4 'Insta-poets' you should follow on Instagram

New Era of Poetry: 4 ‘Insta-poets’ you should follow on Instagram

MF editorial team

17 Jan 2018

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Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur has arguably paved the way for the trend of digital poetry. With verses of very few words, and illustrations to accompany, Kaur says a lot with very little.

Her debut book 'Milk and Honey' became a New York Times best-seller, and was followed with her second book titled 'The Sun and Her Flowers'. She posts verses from these texts on her Instagram, so be sure to follow her for a daily dose of 'Insta-poetry' on your feed.

Photos: Rupi Kaur (Instagram)
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Christopher Poindexter
Featuring heart-melting poems on love, lust and life, Christopher Poindexter’s way with words will stir the inner romantic in you. With over 337000 followers, and still an air of mystery about him, his work has unsurprisingly gained him a strong digital following.

Photos: Christopher Poindexter (Instagram)
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R. M. Drake
Robert Macias, better known as R. M. Drake, is a firm favourite as well amongst celebrities whom often re-post his work on their individual Instagram pages. The self-published author focuses on love, life and death and with an Amazon bestseller to his name called 'Beautiful Chaos'. He posts excerpts of his book and other original work and more on his Instagram page.

Photos: R. M. Drake (Instagram)
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Lang Leav
The Australian poet has a sensational run of poetry that is well adapted for a bite-sized social media viewing. With five titles and now a novel under her belt, Lang’s diary-like aphorisms invite readers into empathetic feels they have never felt before. Fellow partner to fellow Insta-poet Michael Faudet (who you should definitely check out too), this duo is definitely a digital poetic force to be reckoned with.

Photos: Lang Leav (Instagram)

Whoever said poetry was dead? Instagram has brought this literature back to life in a new and unfiltered way.

Shakespeare, Yeats and Eliot are poets (just to name a few) that have transcended the times. These guys may have been first to the poetry party, but there is a new age approaching without them – only this one involves a double-tap on your phone screen.

Alas, behold the ‘Instagram poet’, the 21^st century version of enjoying literature, prose and poetry in this digital age. If you use social media, chances are you would’ve heard of Rupi Kaur. The Canadian writer of Punjabi descent has surpassed social media fame and is now an author to two bestselling books. With minimalist, digestible poems, Kaur discusses abuse, gender and other personal experiences – all within a thumbnail.

The rise of poetry on Instagram has also proved the timelessness of this craft, once thought to be a dying art form. Since the recent spike in poetry available on Instagram, poetry sales in 2017 spiked by 13%, according to Nielson Book Research. As it turns out, poetry is certainly not dead; only that its medium perhaps needed a digital reboot.

Here are our top picks of inspirational poets on Instagram to look out for!

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