Last year around this time I was interviewed by Josh Dale of Thirty West Publishing House for the first time ever in my life I was asked; “How familiar are you with the terms “glancer/glancership”, “boo”, “she-poem/poet”, and “balling”? “ I had no idea what half of those things meant at all until I started to follow Thom Young on Instagram he was/is a frequent flyer when it comes to utilising these words. Things started to make sense, most of the time when I read satire it totally goes over my head, I mean there are levels of sarcasm that feel so true it is not even funny especially when they are coming from an honest place.
The novel Instapoet written by Thom Young & Matt Blythe is nothing short of shear genius. I don’t know if anyone is paying attention but there has been a renaissance growing with regards to the world of poetry. This book shows how quickly one can gain popularity posting inane and simple things on Instagram as opposed to poems requiring both thought and accountability to create with more than the size of your phones face will permit.
There are characters that gave me laugh – I remember one night I stayed up late to finish a college paper on the effectiveness as to how to help the local community centre. It was quite difficult and annoying, but I finished it – there is a part where this other female character totally unrelated – she used sex as a tool to get her pseudo boyfriend to write the paper for her. Academic fraud is quite a serious thing I can’t even imagine being expelled for cheating like that the dishonour alone is one that can instill fright even in the bravest soul. So basically, she almost got caught but there was a fiasco that ensured she received entry into another school. I don’t want to give too much of it away so read the book to find out what happened to her!
My favourite character hands down in Max the way he methodically listed and plotted throughout the book to receive an outcome of shear popularity in itself is quite comical. I remember reading one scene where Max was so angry, no, now to think about it angry is not the right word more like royally incensed. The line read “Max retrieved his favourite pen which he nicknamed ‘Revenge’.” I mean come on — that line says it all – can you imagine making someone so frustrated and upset that they create a vendetta about you where are starting to name tools of their trade. I find this funny as I name my tools as well – there is power not only in the writing, but the selected tool utilised as well. I’ve heard revenge is a dish best served cold and Max’s dissonance is not one to be taken for granted especially since it plotted so carefully.
As you can tell from my words I genuinely enjoyed reading Instapoet it was one of the funniest things I’ve laid my optics upon. It is quite obvious that Young & Blythe took their time carefully constructing the characters believability I mean yes, it is satire but it’s honest satire that shows that those poets who stay true to their craft require the same amount of acknowledgement or even more than those who simply string three words together and call it poetry. Thom Young completely proved that theory via his Instagram account.
I do hope that you pick up your copy of Instapoet and leave it a review on Amazon it is worth the read and your two, not two, three cents. There is so much to take away from this novel and I genuinely want you to enjoy it as much as I did.
CCIQ Press 