The Poets and the Geeks

Personally I prefer my poetry longer and more lyrical, but it’s impressive seeing award-winning writers like Margo Lanagan branching out into Twitku. Here is a version of the haiku, shortened to the Twitter parameter of 140 characters. It’s yet another facet of the literature industry’s engagement with the digital environment and shows again that, no matter what the means of production, you just can’t keep a good artform down. Just as Geoffrey Chaucer reckoned he’d have a much bigger home readership if he wrote in English, rather than French or Latin, so today’s writers and publishers are coming to the conclusion that if you can’t beat digital, you must in some form or another collaborate with the Geeks.