Instagram Poetry
The Verb on Instagram Poetry and writing for social media.
The Verb on Instagram Poetry, and the pleasures of writing on social media. Ian McMillan, and writer and cartoonist Moose Allain, explore the bittersweet language of the grapefruit, the 'oo' in festoon, and the 'bone' in trombone - for a brand new Twitter word game called 'The Word Service'. Poets Yrsa Daley-Ward, Mandy Kahn, and Johnathan Rice share poems of anxiety, joy in the everyday, and dark humour.
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Moose Allain

‘Dogsbody, but human head. Peripheral visionary. Pest’ (according to his Twitter Bio, anyway), Moose Allain is a social media language powerhouse and for the past week he’s been playing The Verb’s ‘Word Service’ language game with Ian McMillan. Each ‘served’ the other a word to play with in the morning, and posted their results later in the day. Moose shares the wordplay that was inspired by the game, and also celebrates Twitter as a place of creative challenge.
Jonathan Rice

Johnathan Rice’s Instagram account proudly displays the quote ‘The beat-poet of the Instagram generation” - W Magazine’. Johnathan describes how he puts together his Instagram haiku; funny, reactive poems that can mutate from funny to sad over a course of the day, as the news cycle turns. He also explains the pleasure he takes in choosing his poem titles, which are sourced from descriptions attached to images (geotags) how he has turned the location tool into an integral part of his poetry. Joanthan's book 'Farewell My Dudes: 69 Dystopian Haikus' is published by Hat & Beard.
You can find him on Instagram at: mrjohnathanrice
Yrsa Daley-Ward

Yrsa Daley-Ward’s Instagram bio reads ‘I Tell Stories. Some tall, some dark.’ One of the brightest stars of the Instagram Poetry world,Yrsa is also a model and actor and the author of the poetry collection ‘Bone’ - her new memoir is called ‘The Terrible’ (Penguin). For Ysra, the early morning is her most creative time, and she takes inspiration from being close to her ‘dreamspace’.
Yrsa’s on Instagram at yrsadaleyward
Ira Lightman

Facebook is the platform of choice for Verb regular Ira Lightman. According to his Facebook page he studies ‘poetry at Poetland High School’, after previously spending time at ‘Autodidacticism’. Ira’s invented a whole new poetic form, for a special Verb commission, which we’re calling ‘The Lightman’. For this for, Ira draws on his reading of 1000 Instagram poems, and the images that accompany them. ‘The Lightman’ combines literal descriptions of these images (e.g. ‘pressed leaves’, ‘typewriter in background’) with collaging techniques.
Mandy Kahn

Mandy Kahn is the author of two poetry collections ‘Glen Gould’s Chair’ and ‘Math. Heaven. Time’ (Eyewear). She joins us down the line from early morning LA to discuss the creative challenges of social media poetry and the importance of the art of compression. Mandy also shares 17th century haiku, and delights in the possibilities of new media. She has left her Twitter bio blank, which seems right given her celebration of the space that social media offers.
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- Fri 26 Oct 2018 22:00ѿý Radio 3
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