Castle in the Clouds: Read Write Poem Launches Social Network for Poets

Poets thrive in communities. Shakespeare had London's robust playwriting community; Fitzgerald had Hemingway and vice versa. Ginsberg had Kerouac and the other Beats. Even stodgy, gloomy Milton had Andrew Marvell. Though nothing can replace a close, personal friendship with someone who shares your craft, the internet provides us with many more opportunities to collaborate with fellow poets, and to create these kind of friendships.

Read Write Poem, a website that has been cultivating a community of poets for a quite a while, understands that interaction with other writers can be a poet's bread and butter. Since its inception, the site has been issuing weekly "challenges" that allow the community to work on similar projects at the same time. That alone made it a site worthy of recognition, but the Read Write Poem team wasn't content to stop there. This dedicated team, including Dana Guthrie Martin, Andre Tan, Dave Jarecki, Nathan Moore, and Deb Scott, has been working hard to turn Read Write Poem into a hotspot for poets on the web.

In a site redesign years in the making but just finalized two days ago, this relatively simple blog has become a full-fledged social network. With groups, forums, messages, and individual profile pages, Read Write Poem has overnight become a Facebook for poets, in the same way that the fairly popular Goodreads is a Facebook for readers. Already Read Write Poem is blossoming into a successful, active community. There are many available groups with discussions going on now. Since joining a couple days ago, I've found it to be a pretty welcoming atmosphere. If you're interesting in meeting and working with fellow poets, I highly recommend giving the site a try.

"But," you say, "I already have Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, and Goodreads! Do you really expect me to maintain another social network? All these other places have groups and resources for poetry lovers. Why do I need a specialized network?" Broad-based social networks are great for general discussions and finding people with shared interests. But a network with a specific focus can simply provide resources and in-depth conversation that a less-specialized community can't. Already the discussions on Read Write Poem delve deeper into poetics than any Facebook group I can think of.

Even if you feel overwhelmed by the social web, you'll find this site to be a good break from the madness, rather than an additional burden. Who knows, you may even find the Kerouac to your Ginsberg. And as poets, can we really afford to work alone?


[Also, feel free to seek me out on Read Write Poem here.]