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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.