Reach Out And Text Someone--With Cellpoems

By Jill Earl

Poetry lovers now have a new way of getting their fix in a most untraditional way. In existence for about a year, Cellpoems is a poetry journal that subscribers receive solely through text messaging on their cell phones twice a week. There’s also a link to their blog, and an archive available for those who might want to check out the poems before subscribing or choose not to sign up for the journal.

I admit to some skepticism with the concept of text messaged poetry, and appreciate the journal editors’ declaration “While our medium is brief, our goal is not to shrink attention spans or subject good writers and readers to the inanities of text message abbreviations.” Kudos to them for wanting to provide substantive content.

I did enjoy a few of the poems I read in the archives. I’m a great admirer of any writer who’s capable of writing short and tight, while holding my interest with their material. I can see myself dropping in every so often to see the latest offerings, but I think I’ll stick to reading my poetry between the pages of a book. It’ll be interesting to see how Cellpoems will fare in the future, though.

For interested poets, they do accept submissions year-round, either through their online form or texting them at the number listed on their site.

What are your thoughts about this latest electronic literary entry? Would you read a text message poetry journal? Why or why not?

Photo credit: Microsoft Clip Art