Democratizing the Art

No MFA required. No literary agent needed. No publisher to convince. The audience is the editor, responding in real time with applause, silence, or tears. YouTube allowed spoken word performances to reach millions, bypassing every traditional gatekeeper.

Button Poetry built a massive online audience by filming slam performances and posting them to YouTube. A twenty-year-old with three minutes and a microphone could suddenly reach more people than most published poets achieve in a lifetime.