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Is poetry dying?



Is poetry dying?



I’m afraid not.

Poetry is not dying, it is evolving

It is evolving from a mainly academic exercise into a stand alone genre of entertainment, as well as, growing into an industry capable of providing jobs and businesses.

Part of the major evolution is its leap from page to stage, which has lead to it been called spoken word poetry.

Why the evolution?

It is generally believed that attention span of people have decreased in recent times, however, sight and sound still has the capability to hold attention of interested and even un-interested audiences/ people when properly deployed.

Why should poetry evolve into spoken word poetry?

Well, let’s answer the above with these questions:

  1. why does YouTube and Instagram continue to thrive?
  2. Why is Facebook and Linkedin now allowing video content?
  3. Why does Instagram want to increase the video length from just 60 seconds?

Sight and sound is key, very key, in today’s world. Art forms that do not evolve along this line “might” (i said, might) slowly lose relevance.

What are the benefits of poetry moving into spoken word poetry?

It allows for it to slowly, but surely, become a recognizable income generating art form for million of people worldwide. A very good example of well, spoken word poetry is becoming very lucrative is in UAE, you can check out the links below:

Arab Poetry’s Answer to American Idol By Saifedean Ammous

Million’s Poet: Abu Dhabi’s Prestigious Poetry Programme

Million’s Poet – Wikipedia

Prince of Poets – Wikipedia


What are the available income streams for a spoken word poet?

  1. Performance fees.
  2. Consulting
  3. CDs and DVDs sales.
  4. Books sale
  5. Merchandise
  6. Scripting/ song writing
  7. Talks/ Public speaking
  8. organizing events and participating in competitions
  9. Training
  10. Poet/ Artiste management
  11. Poetry mobile app
  12. Website
  13. Social media channel
  14. Investing in the art form as an Angel Investor, Venture Capitalist etc.

Personally in Nigeria, spoken word poetry is fast becoming the next big thing to manifest. Given the over 100 million people in Nigeria, of which approximately 50% are youths, it is a huge market wanting to be tapped. And from our estimate, a minimum investment of USD 50,000 or more, will surely yield returns.

So is poetry dying?

No, it is an evolution.


Olumide Holloway (aka King Olulu)




Quora Link: https://www.quora.com/Is-poetry-dying


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