Poet Interview Series: Howler Poetry

Today we present to you a very talented Instagram poet with the pen name “Howler Poetry”. Howler Poetry won the latest AWB Poetry Slam with his beautiful poem titled “Scared to love” which reached over 5365 likes on Instagram! Howler Poetry talks to us about his writing process, where he finds inspiration to pen his poetry and tells about his future plans. See below for the full interview and get motivated to keep on writing!

When did you first become passionate about poetry and what attracted you to it?

I was always good with words but I actually took interest in poetry two years ago. A lot was going on in my life and I found poetry as the perfect channel to let it all out and to actually express myself. The beauty of poetry is the fact everyone can relate to it, in one way or another and that unites us humans and makes every individual feel understood.

What inspires you to write?

Everything and anything. It can be a person I've known my whole life or a strangely shaped  rock I found on the road. There's poetry everywhere you just have to look close enough.

Do you publish your Poetry on other channels but Instagram?

I intend to shortly start putting my poetry out on Pinterest and publishing a book is a long-term goal but for now, my work is only on Instagram.

Who is your favorite Instapoet and why?

There are so many but @jmstormquotes,  @evergreen.reveries and @wilderpoetry are the poets that I look up to, they have inspired me since even before I started writing. Their content is extremely good, very relatable and healing for me.

Can you tell us a little about your writing process? How do you come up with poems and how do you edit them?

The process is very natural and spontaneous. I never sit myself down to write, when the thoughts pop into my mind I make sure I write them down immediately in a raw form and leave them at that, when I am about to post them I give them another read and see if I can make them better in any way.

Do you support yourself through writing financially, or do you have a day job and what is it?

I don't look at my poetry as a source of income and I think I never  could. Poetry is healing for me and even if I get any money off of it in the future I think I will use it all to better my content and to help the poetry community. I am currently studying.

How many hours a day do you spend writing and what helps you to get into the writing mood?

It depends, sometimes I don't write for weeks and sometimes the ideas just keep popping up so I don't assign time for writing, I just do it when I'm in the mood. A lot of things awaken the poet in me, mostly I like to write when I'm sad or stressed and at the end of it, I feel much better. Additionally, anything I see, or feel sparks poetry and I just build on those thoughts.

And what’s the best moment you’ve had with your poetry so far?

The poetry community has welcomed me with loving arms and everyone is so kind and uplifting, I truly feel happy when interacting with fellow poets but I must say that my best moments with poetry have been in solidarity, when I write something that blows my mind and I just sit there appreciating my creation.

How do you respond to writer’s block or not knowing what to write?

Fortunately I don't have time constraints and I can write freely whenever I feel like it. But if I must advice on writer's block, if you feel like you've been stuck for some time, just get up and give yourself a break, take your mind off it completely and do some other manual work you had pending, or just interact with people  and when you get back to writing, you will have a fresh mind and a new perspectiv

Where would you like to see yourself in three years time?

Ever since i started writing and posting my poetry online, I've had one goal and that is making sure my poetry reaches the people who Don't know they need it. I discovered poetry when I was going through a hard patch of life, and it helped me immensely. I want to be that help to people who are not into poetry, who don't follow poets. I want to reach them and tell them they are not alone.

So in three years time I want to have achieved that goal, partially at least and helped people along the way and in three years time I want to have published or be very close to publishing my book.

What is your strategy you to grow your audience?

I firmly believe that if you have good content, you will get the audience you deserve. I just concentrate on building a community on Instagram and interacting with people as much as I can. I would also like to mention @awritersbuisness here and their selfless commitment towards the poetry community and in helping to provide poets the audience they need. They recognized me when I  was a small account and have supported me since. I would like to thank them for their kindness. 

What advice would you give young poets just starting out?

Pour your heart out and there will always be people that relate. Don't force yourself to create content you are not satisfied with. Don't worry about how many followers you have, just make sure you put your best version out there and you will eventually be appreciated for it, and after you edit your poem and are ready to post it online, look at it for a second and think to youself, if you were scrolling through your feed and this post showed up, would you pause your scrolling to read it? If your answer is yes, you have done your best work and you should be proud!

Do you think poetry has a greater purpose?

To this I ask you, when has it not? Poetry has a magical way of connecting people and  making them feel understood and in our generation I think poetry is very necessary.

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@howlerwrites Many thanks to for talking to us. We are very excited to be following such a promising Poet and hope we can support you further in your development as a writer. If you too want to follow Howler Poetry check out the profile on Instagram here…

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