Twitter Poetry: Poetry in 140 Characters or Less

Earlier this week, Twitter snagged an $800 million investment from Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian based venture firm. This investment raises the company’s value up to an estimated $8.4 billion; over double the $3.7 billion it was valued at in December. For those of you that love numbers, that is 127% increase. Not bad for a website that many shrugged off as a glorified status update feed just a few years ago.

Today, it seems almost impossible to go anywhere or do anything without hearing about what someone Tweeted, or being asked if you are following this person or that person. For those of you that are unfamiliar, Twitter is a microblogging and social networking platform whose users’ posts are limited to 140 characters. But, what at first glance may appear to be a limitation has actually proven to be Twitter’s strongest suit. Now, news is reported as the stories unfold from the people who are experiencing them, celebrities and athletes communicate with their legions of fans en masse and trending topics generate buzz around the world, all in 140 characters or less.

Along with athletes, celebrities and news reporters, Twitter has successfully been able to attract artists as well. From visual and musical artists, to writers, novelists and poets, creative minds from around the world use Twitter as a means to promote themselves and as a means of creative expression. But why? Beyond the fact that Twitter is a great way to gain exposure, there seems to be something inherently creative about the Twitter platform that attracts these creative minds. Trying to discern what that something is, however, may take more than 140 characters.

One such manifestation of Twitter’s creative essence comes in the form of “Twaikus,” or Haikus that are cast in the mold of a tweet. At the core of a Haiku is brevity, the same brevity that is at the core of a Twitter post. Because of this, the Haiku poetic form lends itself perfectly to the Twitter model. But, this type of poetic form exists outside of Twitter; a Twaiku that is not posted on Twitter is just a normal Haiku. There is much more to be said, though, about creative works that are created as a direct result of the Twitter medium.

Poets around the world use Twitter to broadcast what they deem to be poetic. Their tweets, like Twaikus, are posted because of their poetic beauty, but what about the poets who may not be aware of their own verse? What about the Twitter user that describes the way the rain looks through the trees from her window or the poster who details how the light reflects off of the bowl on his table? These seemingly mundane and ordinary posts have the potential to become poetic, simply because they are filtered through the Twitter medium. This is the creative nature I was hinting at before. The Twitter platform is inherently poetic.

Twitter’s 140-character limit does much more than limit the length of a tweet; it magnifies the importance of every word. In poetry, every word has a very precise place, even more so if you are working within a specific poetic rhyme scheme, meter or structure. Poets often slave over poems for months, making sure that every word is exactly the right word and that every word is in exactly the right place. Tweets, in many ways, are just the same; every word has its place and every word adds to the value of the tweet as a whole. When run through this filter, even the most unexciting event can be transformed into poetry.

What do you think pencileers? Sound off in the comments section below. And don’t forget, you can even follow Pencils.com on Twitter.