Why newspapers aren’t keen on publishing poems from readers

Actors reciting a dramatized poem. English-language poetry is considered a dying art form in this country, or at best schoolroom communication, just like the English nursery rhyme “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. Have you any wool?” PHOTO | ANTHONY NJAGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Exceptions, at least at NMG, are the Saturday edition of the Kiswahili daily Taifa Leo and Sunday’s Taifa Jumapili, which publish mashairi.
  • In the 19th Century, it was common for newspapers to publish poems from would-be poets, students and housewives.
  • In today’s world of fast-moving news and information, there is no room in a quality newspaper for stand-alone poems.

Readers keep sending me poems for publication. Over the three and a half years that I have been public editor, I must have received enough for a collection to rival, at least in quantity, the Anthology of East African Poetry edited by Dr Kisa Amateshe.

As the public editor, I’m only an ombudsman and have no say on what gets published. So, it’s not helpful to send me anything for publication unless it’s about complaints on editorial issues.
I also happen to know that newspapers do not normally publish poems.

EXCEPTIONS

Exceptions, at least at NMG, are the Saturday edition of the Kiswahili daily Taifa Leo and Sunday’s Taifa Jumapili, which publish mashairi (poetry in Kiswahili), and the English weekly regional newspaper The EastAfrican, in which a columnist pens a short poem on current affairs.

This may sound contradictory to my article last week, Any journalist worth reading must be something of a poet, in which I tried to show how journalists can use poetic techniques to enrich their reporting. But it’s true, stand-alone poetry has no place in modern newspapers.

In the 19th Century, it was common for newspapers to publish poems from would-be poets, students and housewives.

But that era is long gone. And it was never here in the first place. Newspapers came to our shores at the beginning of the 20th Century. By that time, “newspaper poems” had gone out of fashion.

NEWSPAPER POEM

A newspaper poem is a poem written for the first time and published in a newspaper. It is a euphemism for “bad poetry” written by unknown writers, or poetry not worthy of significant consideration.

Editors no longer consider publishing newspaper poems as a good use of their valuable editorial space. There is, however, a handful of newspapers, mostly provincial newspapers in America, that still publish poetry.

In addition, a few literary journals and magazines such as the New York-based The Nation and some specialised websites publish poems submitted by readers.

But the competition is so fierce that, to be published, one has to be nearly as good as a modern day Shakespeare or Wordsworth and turn out — as the ancient bards did — memorable lines such as “Hell is empty and all the devils are here” and “The child is father of the man”.

NO ROOM FOR POETRY

In today’s world of fast-moving news and information, there is no room in a quality newspaper for stand-alone poems.

Most of the poetry that I receive is from students and budding poets. The following are examples of the kinds of messages I get from them: “I am a student from (sic) Moi University, Eldoret.

"I am a poet and a writer too. I have written a poem about welcoming Pope Francis in our country. I humbly request if you can review it and maybe print it in the Daily Nation if it is worth it.”

“I am a poet, a blogger too. I have a poem I wrote on Kenyans peaceful co-existence that I would love you to publish in your papers approaching this election period as part of peace campaign. It’s called ‘The Patriot’.”

“It is my hope you will consider publishing this poem I wish to share with my fellow Kenyans. It is also my strong believe (sic) that this poem will have a positive impact and reflection to (sic) Kenyan citizens and our leaders especially in this volatile political period.”

“I have so far written over a hundred poems. I'm requesting for a newspaper section in which I can post some of them so that I pass my messages to as many people as possible.”

WRITING POETRY

It seems the way poetry is taught in our schools makes many students believe they can write poetry. However, poems worthy consideration require a lot of thought and work.

Writing poetry is not simply a question of turning out stanzas, rhymes, similes, metaphors and what have you. But even after the hard work and thought, it would be a formidable task to convince a hard-nosed newspaper editor to create space for poetry.

The truth is, English-language poetry is considered a dying art form in this country, or at best schoolroom communication, just like the English nursery rhyme “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. Have you any wool?”

In the circumstances, if you’re a budding poet, there’s no chance you will be published in a busy newspaper. So, hold off your muses.

Send your complaints to the [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264.