When you think about it, poetry and Instagram doesn’t seem like a likely combo, but you’d be surprised at what you find.
As you delve into the visual experience of poetry on Instagram and get bowled over by the likes of R.M.Drake (1.6m followers), Lang Leav (315k followers), Christopher Poindexter (306k followers), Atticus (316k followers), and more, you’ll probably start wondering about how desi poets are faring.
For those who need a little help on where to look, here are 10 Indian poets you should definitely be following on Instagram:
1) Karuna Ezara Parikh @karunaezara
Karuna’s Instagram feed is a testament to her bio: “I write, I travel, I shoot, people shoot me.” Scroll through and find photographs of her life, travels, and of course, her poetry. Her poems, long and short, are mostly about love, and slightly feminist in tone.
2) Arunoday Singh @sufisoul
Bollywood actor, Arunoday Singh, is quite the poet, and his handwritten ‘Sufiana’ poetry is as elegant and poignant as the calligraphy font his verses are expressed in.
3) Harnidh Kaur @harnidhk
Harnidh’s hard-hitting and honest writing is critical and creative, and she doesn’t back away from writing about political issues, be it the Uri attacks, Kashmir or Manipur.
4) Rishi Shade @thebaresoul
Shade has published the lowest number of posts among the Instapoets in our list, and yet he manages to capture an exceptionally high number of followers on Instagram with his short and heartrending poems.
5) Arshiyaa Taj Khan @meraaqi
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOM0thtBWE1/
Khan is a poetess and spoken word artist from Mumbai who started writing at the age of 14. Her debut poetry book ‘Divine Trouble’ was released last year, and is still earning rave reviews from critics.
6) Shamir Reuben @thedevastateddreamer
Stating that feedback on social media is an incentive to keep writing, Reuben has been steadily publishing a series of life lessons, some sweet, some thoughtful, and each one as fascinating to read as the other.
7) Shan @shayari_shan
Shan writes Hindi and Urdu verses in English, making him quite different from the rest of the Instapoets in our list. Follow him for a daily dose of shayari and ghazals.
8) B Krish @b_krish_
Writing poetry, haiku and short write-ups are this poet’s passion. Scroll through his feed for observations on love and life lessons.
9) Nilesh Mondal @hungover.hamlet
Mondal is an engineering student from West Bengal, and through his amusingly named account, he writes about a surprising variety of topics from life lessons to erotica.
10) Bineka Sadhnani @binekasadhnani
Sadhnani sees herself as an expressionist, not a writer. Her Instagram feed is a perfect grid of black and white, and her verses resonate with you, especially if you’re a woman.
So if you’re on Instagram, follow these ten for creative and powerful verses that explain us, provoke us and inspire us. Did we miss anyone? Let us know if we did.
Written by Ankitaa Gohain Dalmia
Featured image source: Polskie Radio
