The Poetry of Social Media Politics

In the public eye again, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who recently resigned from office) has been twittering her thoughts. Each twitter as tweeters know is limited to 140 characters. Not always enough room for a complete thought; especially when the character count includes the space between words.

But is that poetry? According to Actor William Shatner it is.

He has taken her twitters and turned them into poetry; free form verse filled with prosaic references to the splendor of her home state. His recital recently appeared on NBC TV.

Admittedly it smacks of beat poetry. The musical accompaniement and Shatner's style of reciting reminds me of San Francisco's North Beach; dimly lit coffee houses where basic, synchronistic drum and base beats accent the heartbeat of the poet's pauses.

This is certainly a different approach to Sarah Palin's social media communications. It's one that I find very interesting because it does not condone or condemn her.

I do know of tweeters and facebookers who use their social media platforms to produce poetry and prose. In some cases they write novels at 140 characters a time or try to condense an entire story into two or three lines of copy.

But taking someone's tweets and turning them into poetry? Well, I think it's brilliant! What do you think?
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