Poetry is enjoying a new wave of global popularity, boosted by so-called Instapoets and Twitter bards posting verses on social media. How would it look if it took over CGTN's reporting too, wonders Mick Hodgkin. 

Young poets find Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Increasingly useful for showcasing verse,

But that makes some critics resentful and bitter,

Believing it's making our poetry worse. 

Big Instagram names R.M. Drake, Rupi Kaur,

Concisely reflect on their readers' shared passions,

With follower counts of a million or more

Including celebrities like the Kardashians.

Neat visuals are key for the top Instapoets,

With cute pencil drawings or photos of clouds

Astute digital marketers, these people know it's

A path to acclaim from the wisdom of crowds.

An Instagram profile can then be a hook

For readers who tend to be female and young,

Who like it so much that they then buy the book,

On poetry's ladder, they're on the first rung.

And Instagram isn't the sole social medium

For poets attracting new readers to use,

A limerick tweet helps alleviate tedium,

While Facebook and Youtube are good for live views.

We talked all this over with Nikita Gill,

Who's published four books after Instagram fame

Which doesn't detract from her writerly skill

But certainly helped to establish her name.

She says people reading a good social poem,

Discovering verse through posts, updates or tweets,

Will seek out what previous poets can show 'em

Progressing to Angelou, Wordsworth and Keats.

Bold poets have challenged our cultural norms

From oral tradition through print to PCs,

And surely they'll keep on exploring new forms 

On tablets and phones as they do on dead trees.