Also available as audio-only on iTunes, Spotify & wherever else you get podcasts.
How does poetry evolve with social media? Guest poet Olivia Ku brings her special blend of micro-poetry and big feels to ‘Threads and Lines’ as they break down Instagram poetry and it’s potential. The Clique reviews a Lucille Clifton classic short poem, and have a constructive roasting session on IG micro poetry during the ‘2 Piece Combo’ poetry review. Lastly, Olivia goes deep into short poetry flex during the “Five For Your Eye” prompted poem.
[EPISODE INDEX]
- 1:04 – “Heartbreak” by Olivia Ku
- 2:13 – “Threads & Lines”
- 13:58 – 2 Piece Combo | “Homage To Hips” – Lucille Clifton
- 22:18 – 2 Piece Combo | @TheBloodOfDesire
- 34:58 – 5 For Your Eye
The potential of poetry has always been something I’ve wondered about. The first concept for a poetry show started in my head while watching Def Poetry circa ‘06. I remember thinking then that there should be more of this, and more depth to it. I went searching for answers on the Internet, and it brought new possibilities I never expected. Since then, a poetry podcast is something I’ve always dreamt of; so when I met Kuya David, who had a similar dream, we set out to produce The Pen Clique. The podcast is our shared vision since to create a more in-depth and engaging poetry experience for the Internet. However, with more and more poetry content on Instagram, we realized we needed to find someone who was doing dope things online and Olivia Ku is the first Pen Clique example of all that. She’s a poet who is effectively using the Internet as a means of publication and outreach.
Personally, poetry has always been about empowerment and change, and Olivia is using her art on new platforms to affect that change in people’s hearts and minds. Poetry is a healing art and Olivia keeps that sense of shelter in all of her work. That is a big reason I was happy to see her on the show; she is helping people with her art. There is always a time and place for the big and boisterous parts of poetry, but I think the cathartic, well-versed purges of struggle and feeling hold the most value. Olivia does that in a whole new way as she is mainly an Instagram poet, meaning most of her work is made to be shared with online followers. This brings a new challenge to poets; how does one make short, easily-digestible poems? What images do you pair with your poems? Then there is always the tricky game of Instagram algorithms and hashtags. Olivia is tackling all of those issues in fun creative ways while still retaining the mission of healing and peace in her art.
When Olivia arrived for her shoot I was excited to see how it would all work out, to say the least. The short nature of Olivia’s work and her talent as a writer makes her poetry easy to understand yet rich with possible interpretations. How would the Clique react, when faced with such few words and so many possible meanings? Olivia made it easy for us by revealing the raw inside scoop on her poem, as well as her writing process. As a guest, she let us into her struggle and trauma, and gave emerging micro poets some important tips to keep their work growing. The episode rolled along smoothly and Olivia’s consistently sweet nature brought all her loving vibes into the Pen Clique, as it does for thousands online. That is the dopest part of Olivia to me; she is proof that all the things I grew up loving about poetry and the scene will not be hindered by the Internet, but can grow and possibly reach and inspire a world full of people.
Olivia is officially our first Instagram poet, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Clique. The potential for online poetry is something I think we all should be exploring in our work as writers. We have this new means to reach the world, and I do believe when you expose people to art, you are saving lives. To think Olivia is sharing the same sense of the love we all get from poetry with thousands via Instagram stories and posts is something uniquely beautiful. Where poetry can go online from here is infinite. We are excited to dive in deeper and share it with all of you.
Write-up by Daniel Hees
Edited by Seraphina Lotkhamnga
Photos by Aubrey Rowe
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Episode 02 Ft. Charles Williams
Charles Williams brings poetry so fire the boys debate existence as we know it during ‘Threads and Lines’! The Clique judge the 1st Slam poet ever with modern minds during the ‘2 piece combo’ and Charles gets personal and powerful with the ‘5 For Ya Eye’ prompted poem.
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Off Page: July 2020
This time around we got Kae Cee representing Columbus with poetry love, Localcolor bringing the neo-soul vibes, the Pomona family and shwavy one himself Jonnie Bars who always is in fact bars, the songbird poet and Pen Clique family Brian Oliva with the music magic tricks, the slam god and hip hop hero Matthew Cuban bringing heat off his newest album Ivanna 2, and model, actress, author, and poet Arielle Estoria with all the love and healing you can fit into a single poem to close.
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Episode 13 Ft. Meccamorphosis
Baltimore poet Meccamorphosis exposes white-washing & racism within her phone’s autocorrect, with her poem, “Duck You Autocorrect.” The clique pull up Janae Johnson’s piece, “White Girl Roasting” for the first poetry review, and FINALLY find a decent IG poem reeled in from the IG #poetry ether by @tianatakespoetry. Lastly, Mecca shuts it down with all the feels during her “Five For Your Eye” prompted poem.
