How to Get People to Read Your Poetry
Brace Yourself…
The beauty of social media is in connection. Because of writing primarily poetry and primarily online, I have made connections. One of these connections has found me on a committee of a local literary and poetry journal where I get to play poetry Goddess and help decide who lives and who dies in terms of getting their poetry published in the upcoming issue. Never in a million years did I dream I would be in such a cool position, such an amazing opportunity.
And all because I did a thing called : putting myself out there.
When you “put yourself out there” as who you are, as the version of yourself that is the most you, the best of you, things actually can and do happen. And most of them are good things. I decided I was going to go out into the world, into every interaction as a poet. I made poetry business cards that have my name above the job title ‘Poet.’
My 16 year old self would be pretty proud of that, though I hesitate to tell her about how other things in my life have turned out sometimes. She was so cool and hopeful you guys! You would have loved her, and probably in retrospect, I should have too.
All of this introduction, all of this backstory and for what you might ask? Well the issue at hand. How to get people to read your poetry. How to get people to read your writing. How do get those glorious eyes on the page that engage.
And the answer is one giant: good luck, fam. Because I am more and more convinced there is no trick of this trade, there is no combination of magic SEO words or even magic words or spells, that will do this thing.
The only thing that does this thing is you putting yourself out there in your best written form, your little self as a ghost in between the words, and hoping for the best. Hoping that the spark of your little poem finds the spark inside of a reader.
In this meeting of poetry decisions, much was read and much was said. I saw poems that I could not connect with, but others could. I read poems that I really loved, and some that simply made me upset for various reasons — core reasons being things like sexism, or intentionally vague and confusing language or structure.
The thing is I am never going to sit here and say this poem is better or worse because of some lofty academic words that are coded classism disguised as critique. Someone said one poem was “too sentimental.” Another person said that another poem was “too simple.”
The thing is this: a good poem is a poem you will keep reading. A good poem is a poem you would read again. So, does it matter that it is “sentimental” or “simple” or “short?” No. Will it be read, probably. Will it be read more than once, probably.
I have this thing about movies as well. If a movie is truly powerful at speaking to me, connecting, doing something for me in terms of comfort or inspiration, I will watch it again. If it does not do these things, I won’t. But with one exception: some movies, like some poems, are too good or too painful, to read or watch more than once.
These are rare. But powerful. Maybe the message was too close to home, maybe the content was something deeply moving but too triggering, maybe the themes were so real that it hurt. But overall, the issue is one of connection. One of deep connections. One of feeling known and seen by the art and artist.
If someone reads my poetry, I am happy. That means it is poetry and I am a poet. It does not mean I will be published in grand journals or lauded as the best poet ever. It means I created a thing and this thing was passed from my soul to the soul of another, even if I never know about it.
Now already, as an aside some have interpreted this to mean anyone can be a poet and anyone can be a writer, as long as someone reads words on a page and connects with them. And perhaps, it does. Now, this does not mean it is not hard work. Nothing I have said here implies writing or poetry is easy and takes no heart, mind, talent, soul, practice. But the thing is — the point of connection is what makes it all happen, regardless of the writer’s credentials, degrees, publication history, ego, talent, efforts, soul, heart, or mind.
We can work on what we need to work on but that point of connection — that transaction between my words, you reading my words, you feeling something, there being an exchange, is what makes the thing go. We have all been there — we have all read awful things, junk, and had no connection to them.
These things can be put out into the world by esteemed hard working published poets with degrees or they can be put out into the word by some earnest young person on Instagram. However, the reverse is also true: Things can be total gibberish and someone out there can connect with it and the poet/reader transaction of getting someone to connect and feel happens in spite of these obstacles!
My point here is connection. And good writers, good poets, can connect but the thing is — it is not something that can be cranked out with a how-to, step-by-step, sort of operators manual system. It comes when we put in the work that involves putting ourselves out there as an artist and crafts-person, as a poet and writer. It comes when we pour our full and actual selves into our words, when we are deeply devoted to the process of our writing.
Can I improve? Yes. Can we all improve? Do I want to be published and do I want to have books and do I want to do more with this poetry thing. Yes, yes, and yes. But there is no formula for getting readers to connect with your work. It can change by the moment. A poem about love can find someone who just suffered heartbreak and do nothing for them but enrage them. Or it can find someone who just got engaged and be the best thing they’ve ever read.
Someone may be really into this or that style and connect with it on contact. Someone may be new to poetry and find you first and stay with you forever. Someone may be hate reading you — gasp what a concept but it is the internet, 2019.
You do not know what you do not know. You do not know what readers are going through, you do not know what they are looking for, you do not know how to magically find the ones who will love your work most of all. It is a daily dance. And it is best done when you stop struggling and striving for some sort of data driven formula that will bring eyes to a page. Eyes can be on a page and that can be great, or it can be empty and meaningless.
Be creative. Listen to your inner voice. Write what flows from you, naturally. Yes improve, yes read more, yes grow. But I am a firm believer in once you let go of this idea of an “outcome” and start to cherish and trust and enjoy the process as meaning in and of itself, this is when the best work comes, this is when the powerful paths to connection appear, this is when you have the greatest potential to touch the hearts and minds and souls of another, a reader.
Aside from assigning poetry in a classroom setting, there is no way to make people read poetry, let alone your poetry. As artists and creatives know it is hard to get our own family and friends to read our stuff on a good day, so, expecting strangers to faint with joy every time we put out a new poem is a bit unreasonable and silly. Adorable, yet silly.
But we put ourselves out there. Again and again and again. And this is how we get people to read our poetry. We bring ourselves to it, we bring ourselves to the process, we risk rejection and critique and hurt and heartbreak, but we also risk acceptance, connection, praise, and love, and we just wait to see who is drawn to what, when, and why, and know that we cannot replicate this in any robotic fashion.
Writers write, and readers read and for a reason that is the same: to feel, to connect, to be beautifully found and fully seen.
Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. You can support her on Patreon. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic.
