This poem took a long time to write this morning, but then it only took five minutes.

The long time was reading more poetry from Rupi Kaur, writing more poems in the style in which she writes, and then examining how The Poetry Foundation treated her.

I spoke about Rupi Kaur’s poetry yesterday and about the process of attempting to write in her style. At that point I was only surmising how the Poetry World would probably respond to her works.

And I was right. To their credit, The Poetry Foundation gives more respect to her poetry than I expected, and yet they do not host even one of her poems.

The respect I speak of is this essay about her poems that appears on their site. The Poetry Foundation also posts references to outside responses to her work, notably here from the Guardian and here from PBS news.

What you won’t find here is a takedown of her work.

Watching the PBS segment I am struck with the scenes of her meeting young women who connect with her poetry. She offers them hugs and even cries with them.

What all of these sources acknowledge is that she is famous, that her books are bestsellers and that her work resonates with lots and lots of people.

They attribute her fame as “Instafame” in one case as if such social media fame is different from other types of fame.

Well, maybe. But fame is fame. At one point we must stop and ask, why is Rupi Kaur famous? Why are her books bestsellers?

Why are her books likely the only book of poetry many people own? Rupi Kaur the only poet they would go to see read their poetry?

This poem is a response to all that I’m feeling right now about Kaur and this reaction from the world of Poetry.

So, let me talk about this poem and the ways that I’m trying to speak to both sides.

The title “respection” (which autocorrect won’t even let me write) is an actual word though barely used at all now. It is not allowed in Scrabble which says a lot even though you can find it referred to as an “obsolete” word.

Because of this, it works well as a title here, signifying the importance of giving respect to a poem in order to understand what it says that otherwise could not be said but also signifying to the Poetry world that respect is also being given to “old-world” traditions of poetry.

I show respect to those traditions also when I use the word “otherways” instead of “otherwise”. Both words work and give the same basic meaning, but using “otherways” is unexpected, forces the reader to pause for a second, even to wonder, is that a real word?

Otherways is also a word that a poet might use instead of otherwise in order to complete a rhyme. Although I do not do that here, it is a lyric word. And with my minimal attempt to locate one, I cannot find a poem that actually uses it.

Other than mine.

I could offer the argument that any combination of words actually says something different when you allow the word “different” to take on meanings beyond simply literary ones or perhaps better dictionary meanings.

Some of the definitions for “otherways” I saw were simply the word, “otherwise”.

If there is one major thing though that I hope this poem says it is this: all poems deserve to be read with respect.

That respect isn’t just for the poem, it is for the right of the poet to call it a poem. It is for the right of the reader to call it a poem.

It is for acknowledgment that if this poem is reaching someone, then it has something worth saying, that it is serving the purpose of poetry, that it is reaching someone in a way that otherwise, if it was said but not as a poem, could not be said.

One of the things that struck me as I read about Kaur’s poetry is how many people made fun of her poetry with mockery, writing poems in her style that were nonsensical.

One the one hand, this is disrespectful. On the other hand, Kaur’s poetry moved them to respond, spurred them to a feeling that apparently other poetry did not. Or if their response to poetry was always to write another poem that mocked the poet, well, that’s something.

When I was younger I could see myself doing that. I’m glad for that reason that I’m not younger. I see the value in Kaur’s poetry. I know that for many she is saying something that they are not hearing anywhere else. I know that disrespecting Kaur’s poetry is also disrespecting those that lover her poetry.

Sadly, there is a lot of disrespection going around these days, I’ve noticed.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. You are part of a very small following of interested readers and I appreciate your time in a way that even a poem would incorrectly say.

And now, AI interprets this poem as a black and white photograph!

Ok. But I also got these images:

Hmmm.

The photo that I’m using for the featured image here was taken in Washington D.C. at the SAAM. I’m hoping that I’m not violating copyright law for taking and posting images of the ceiling of a building.

I’m pretty sure that the image directly above is not violating any copyright laws either. But since it was generated with AI and is based upon the works of others that trained the AI, well, maybe.