Web Poetry Wednesday #6 - DeviantArt Edition

Every Wednesday, I feature a list of 10 poems that I've found across the web: on blogs, in literary journals, etc. The only real criteria is that the poems must be publicly accessible, meaning that readers don't have to pay any sort of fee to access them, and the writer in question ought to be alive and still writing today. If you're a poet and you'd like to see your work featured in a future Web Poetry Wednesday post, send me a link to ONE (1) poem for consideration: you can submit your links through the site's Contact page, or you can tweet me a link through Twitter.

This week, I wanted to do something a little different with Web Poetry Wednesday -- in previous editions, most of the poems have been taken from blogs or from literary journals, but those aren't the only places to find quality poetry online. DeviantArt, for those unfamiliar with the site, is a website that hosts free online galleries for artists in any of dozens of mediums. The site predominantly focuses on visual art, but there are a number of literary artists hosting their work there.

By virtue of its typical demographic -- teens and young adults -- DeviantArt is overwhelmed with so-called "emo" poetry, and at first glance, it can be difficult to find works that stand out from the crowd. On the other hand, DeviantArt might possibly be the largest community of young poets on the Internet, and that, in my opinion, makes it vital to tomorrow's poetry -- I wouldn't be surprised to see many of the young artists getting their starts on DeviantArt go on to mature into powerful poets.

Typically, I don't like to feature poems when I can't properly attribute the author, and I usually steer away from poems written under pen names. However, nearly everyone at DeviantArt writes under a screen name, and it's difficult to track down real names -- with that in mind, I opted to simply attribute these poems to the author's screen names.

This week's poems:

• Shattering by this-epiphany
  I came across a handful of this-epiphany's poems when I was looking through DeviantArt, but I chose this piece for a particular line that stuck out to me: "This is the kind of life that the dishes will be the undoing of..."
• Olfactory Canvas by Satah
  There are two moments in Satah's "Olfactory Canvas" that stick out for me -- the image "celery air" and the way "I swear" stands out on its own line near the end of the piece.
• Soliton by Hyperionic-Xmissions
  "Soliton" is an autumn poem, and I chose it because we're just starting to hit the beginning of our fall season here in Alabama -- brisk air, crisp leaves.
• In Three Acts by Beaple
  Beaple's "In Three Acts" is such a simple poem: three repetitions of three nouns, each in a different order, but the piece tells a perfectly concise story by virtue of its shape.
• Fifty-seven Degrees by estallidos
  Estallidos is one of the most prolific poets on DeviantArt, and browsing through the site's list of the most popular poems, her works kept popping up again and again. It was difficult to decide which of her poems to feature, but I chose "Fifty-seven Degrees" for its imagery.
• Brave by drop-asd
  "Brave" is possibly the most experimental piece in this week's list, but that's what I love about it -- DeviantArt's collection of poets seem particularly eager to break out of the columnar structure of most poetry -- "Brave" rambles across the page, drawing the eye not only horizontally, but vertically at times, and sometimes even reversing its direction entirely.
• The Speed Addict by errantmystic
  "The Speed Addict" is a brilliant piece, because it actually consists of two side-by-side poems that, when read in unison, form a third. It's a difficult thing to pull off well, but errantmystic nails it.
• The Cocooning of Pangea by etre-aime
  I really like how the indentions in "The Cocooning of Pangea" set off the different speakers -- the poem is a sort of dialogue on the topic of change, and on what happens when things fall apart.
• Katuata by AbCat
  "Katuata" is the shortest poem in this week's list, just three lines, but I love the use of the final line.
• Age 8, Summer by Kneeling-Glory
  I debated for a long time about including "Age 8, Summer" by KneelingGlory. Of the 10 poems on this list, it's the only one that you'll have to register for an account to see, because the author has listed it under the Mature content section, and I don't like to feature poems that require any sort of login or membership to view. That said, it's my favorite poem on the list, sharply written and raw. It doesn't cost anything to register a DeviantArt account, so I hope you'll register to see this poem, if you don't already have an account.

That's it for this week. Next week's list will probably return to a more traditional format, but in the coming future, I'm planning a Web Poetry Wednesday edition focused on YouTube -- video is one of the most exciting formats that poets are starting to embrace, and it's becoming easier and easier for poets to record readings or even blend their poetry with art and animation to share their work in new ways.