Micropoetry is a genre of poetic verse including tweetku (also known as twihaiku, twaiku, or twitter poetry) and captcha poetry, which is characterized by text generated through CAPTCHA anti-spamming software. The novelist
W. G. Sebald may have been the first to use the term "micropoem", in reference to the poems of about 20 words in length that made up his 2004 work, ''Unrecounted''. The more recent popularity of "micropoetry" to describe poems of 140 characters in length or shorter appears to stem from a separate coinage, as a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...](_blank)
or
tanka
is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Etymology
Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...
.
While short poems are most associated with the
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
, the emergence of
microblogging
Microblogging is a form of social network that permits only short posts. They "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links",. Retrieved June 5, 2014 which may be the major reason for ...
sites in the 21st century created a modern venue for epigrammatic verse. Daily haiku journal tinywords was one of the earliest proponents,
[Dave Bonta]
"Of words and birds, Tweety and otherwise"
November 12, 2009. publishing haiku via
short message service
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
starting in 2000.
[tinywords.com](_blank)
a daily haiku zine.
Micropoetry often shares the quality of
found poetry
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them (a literary equivalent of a collage) by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus ...
, where poetic style is discovered in text not intended to be poetic. A famous early example of this was Alaskan Governor
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
's Twitter feed, which comedian
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...
and actor
William Shatner
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...
spoofed as poetry.
Examples
In order to fit the most meaning into few characters, micropoetry often breaks traditional rules of grammar and lexicon, as in this example:
evrywhr:i c mmnts crl'd back like lips
frm ancnt teeth;evrywhr:i C the bones,their shapes ntwined in2 the
flowrs of gd's infnite
spirogrph[Michael Fergusson]
Twitter poetry
November 12, 2008
The form is also often characterized by spontaneous and rapid production and dissemination, as in the King's Place Twitter contest, judged by
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
. The winning poem from that May 2009 contest was written by Simon Brake:
beneath the Morning Sun,
The city is painted gold,
People move like bees through honey
See also
*
Flarf poetry
Flarf poetry was an ''avant-garde'' poetry movement of the early 21st century. The term ''Flarf'' was coined by the poet Gary Sullivan, who also wrote and published the earliest Flarf poems. Its first practitioners, working in loose collaboration o ...
*
Microblogging
Microblogging is a form of social network that permits only short posts. They "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links",. Retrieved June 5, 2014 which may be the major reason for ...
*
Monostich
A monostich is a poem which consists of a single line.
Form
A monostich has been described as "a startling fragment that has its own integrity"
and "if a monostich has an argument, it is necessarily more subtle."
A monostich could be also titled ...
*
Spoetry
Spam poetry, sometimes called spoetry, is poetic verse composed primarily from the subject lines or content of spam e-mail messages.
History
Several writers have claimed to have created spam poetry, and consensus has not emerged about a single ori ...
*
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
References
External links
{{Microblogging
Genres of poetry
Microblogging