Check out the report at the New Pop Lit News page about happenings in the world of pop poetry:
https://newpoplitnews.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/tarzana-joe-at-new-pop-lit/
While we give Tarzana Joe pride of place in our pop poet run-down, you might just find the poetry of some of his challengers more challenging. Is our goal to knock him from his top spot?
Stay tuned as the genre advances.
Mo-fo poems blasting off the page
Kind of rhymin’ that is all the rage
Other kind of poems, put you to sleep
Tryin’ hard to be cute, tryin’ to be deep
Go for the good shit, go for the best
If it make you smile is the only test
New Pop Lit is the place to be
When you reading Fun Pop Poetry!
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Hey, at least it’s better than the anti-poetry coming out of the academy 
Join the fun: Fun Pop Poetry
For literary modernism to work with the reader, the writing itself needs to be clear, objective, and “pop.”
Ernest Hemingway was a modernist, but the only work in which he played with structure, with montage, was In Our Time. Afterward he wrote everything in strict linear fashion: “straight.”
What’s artistic modernism? Think of Picasso’s “Guernica.” It’s a fragmented view of the world—an attempt to portray the chaos of the actual world.
The most modernistic art form is cinema, because it consists of fragments of reality artfully put together. It’s fitting that motion pictures would be a modernist art—it was created during, sprung from, and reached popularity during the era of modernist artistic ideas—roughly from 1900 to 1930. All its techniques were learned during that period—the most important of which was the theory and practice of montage.
I attempted to use literary montage in my ebook novella, Assassination of X. Not really successfully, because I made the fragments too short; the pace too quick. I overdid it. (As with current fast-paced big budget movies, which are so hyperedited they become meaningless blurs.)
Which simply means more experimentation needs to be done. The writer can’t lose sight of the importance of the continuous narrative line—hooking the reader and keeping the reader hooked.
Are the two elements—montage and narrative line—contradictory?
They aren’t when used together properly in the movies.
Recently the arts/news site Buzzfeed published three poems by Nick Flynn.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/nickflynn/three-new-poems-by-nick-flynn?utm_term=.dt4DPp3Pl#.aqanQOjQP
What’s noteworthy about the poems isn’t their utter mediocrity—I receive better submissions nearly every day for the New Pop Lit website (www.newpoplit.com)— but the way their author has been rewarded for his modest talent by the literary establishment. Simply scroll down from the poems to Nick Flynn’s biographical information. Read the list of plaudits and prizes.
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This tells me the world of establishment poetry is in bad shape. Little is risked by approved poets—and little is achieved.
Why do I care? Not just because I co-edit a literary site, but also because I love to recite poetry. Today there’s little worth reciting.
I can’t help thinking that poetry has been trapped of late on two poles. One is hip-hop based street poetry dependent on sing-song rhythmn and rhyming. It’s made to be read aloud. More, to be performed in front of the audience. The style has become predictable and is seldom artistically challenging.
The other pole is academic poetry. I can’t claim to understand the thinking behind it—I just know it reads like bad prose, looks bland on the page and puts audiences who dare listen to it read aloud to sleep. Contemporary academic poetry is sure proof of how institutionalizing an art form kills it.
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The above thoughts are the reason for this post at New Pop Lit.
We’re looking for visually and aurally striking poetry which stands between the poles. A splash of color combined with a sense of music. The equivalent of a punchy pop song or a fun pop painting-- with a large dollop of wit and intelligence thrown into the mix.
Can anyone write that?
Much “Hemingway Day” activity taking place as I type this.
First, our continuing celebration at the New Pop Lit home page.
Second, a truly fantastic discussion of the man and his work, in which we enlisted the aid of leading critics and writers. The result is a three-dimensional view of the state of his reputation today, with opinions given from all sides.
We think you’ll find it stimulating.
(See also the many tweets on Ernest Hemingway at our main twitter account, @NewPopLit.)
Thanks!
