Atticus Poetry —The Instagram Poet With The Mask On

Learn who Atticus poetry is, the idea behind Atticus poetry, Atticus poetry quotes and Atticus books

Atticus Poetry— Social media has proven to be a largely defined space, not secluded only for arts, but for creators and their works to thrive. With writers not left out of the artistic community, social media has been able to diminish the wide margin and the sour connection that are obviously growing —most especially between poets and their audience.

These specifically entail the sharing of poems featured in great, endearing pictures or typewritten paper, fit enough to clearly depict the poetic phrases in a way the readers can easily interprete. Some of these have been used to explore societal topics such as art, love, beauty, emotions and depression. 

Among these social media set, Instagram, majorly has turned out to be a fast-evolving space for emerging writers and poets. Most of which have been able to rise to stardom and granted wide recognition in the literary world. Some even got contracted for publication. The most outstanding of these Instagram poets is Ruli Kaur, notable to have changed the world perception of social media poetry and has garnered over 3 million Instagram followers. In addition to that, he has two published books in his name titled "Milk and Honey" and "The Sun and Her Flower". Other Instagram poets with huge followers are Christopher Poindexter with 347,000 followers, Cleo Wade with 433,000 followers—and many others.

But the one Instagram poet with unrivaled controversial interest is "Atticus" Poetry, a Canadian Instagram poet who is reputed for his identity concealment by wearing funny looking guy Fawkes mask. Most of Atticus poetry are drifted around the classical themes of love, relationships, and adventure. By the fall of 2019, Atticus had over 900,000 Instagram followers. Currently,

Just like other successful Instagram poets, Atticus poetry has landed him a  book contract with Simon & Schuster and distribution deals with the publishing giant, Amazon and Barnes & Nobel. Atticus poetry collection, his debut was released in July 2017 and read at a public reading gathering at the Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, leaving most people present at the gathering, wondering—"who was really the guy behind the mask?"

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Who is Atticus?

The writer's opinion about Atticus poetry — 

"A guy with a mask on, sharing poetic words in the gathering of people. Not subjecting his lines to his audience opinions, but willing and generous enough to make them reflect themselves through his lines."

Atticus poetry is popular with short poems, those that often addresses love, beauty and relationships. Interestingly, all the pages in Atticus poetry collection contain not more than 50 words. In recognition of Atticus poetry, he was voted “the world’s most tattoo-able” poet by Galore magazine and the most tattooed line is "Love her, but leave her wild."

"Love her, but leave her wild."

Atticus has been discreet about his identity since he started writing as far as back as 2013. He acclaimed that his interest and desire to venture into poetry writing was ignited by his encounter with Michael Madison, an actor, who was at the time also was about publishing his own collection of poems — The actor who also described poetry as gateway escape from addiction and depression.

Giving a succinct recall of his encounter and journey as an Instagram poet—randomly, the beginning. Atticus shared at his interview with Flare, saying,

“I thought, here’s one of the most American badass people I’ve ever met, and he’s reading and releasing his own collection of poetry." He continued, "That really stuck with me. So a few days later, I started writing, just jotting things down. I figured I’d post whatever I wrote anonymously, so there was no harm in it. I never really expected it to take off the way it did; I certainly never expected people to start tattooing it on themselves. It’s all very humbling.”

Despite his dramatic surge to popularity, Atticus has been able to maintain his anonymity. One might think the reason he wears mask is just to drive massive interests or embed curiousness in the minds of his followers. But it seems far from that. To Atticus,

"The main reason I wear a mask is to remind myself to always write what I feel, instead of what I think I should feel,” 

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The mask, to Atticus, is a symbol of undiluted self expression. One not diversely intoxicated by the opinions of others, especially in a world where the cravings for fame has infamously grown. Hiding his identity has been a way to curtail that, that which he never wanted to lose—"his freedom to write what he wants."

At one of the reading events organized in New York, Atticus discloses that he hopes his works and social media presence would pave a way and serve as a gateway drug to classical literature.

The Idea Behind The "Atticus" Name

Atticus, is not only a classic poet who tends to be more symbolic yet expressional in some sort of way. His sheer likeness for symbolism is evident in the story behind his pseudonym name. The Atticus name is derived from the Greek word "Atticans" known for their art and poetry.

Atticus Poetry Inspiration

Just like every other writers, Atticus has few writers that influence him and shape his short poems. The notable ones that he described as favourites are Walt Whitman, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Lord Byron, Sylvia Plath, and Maya Angelou.

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Critiques Of Atticus Poetry

A lot of controversy have surrounded the evolvement of Instagram poet and Instagram poems, despite the surge in popularity and Atticus poetry is not left out the equation. Not everyone really appreciate what Atticus is doing with poems, at least, Collin Yost doesn't. Collin Yost is a critic who revealed Atticus' identity on Instagram. He posted evidence on his Instagram page and accused Atticus poetry being plagiarized. He also alleged that most of Atticus quotes are similar to those of T.E Lawrence and Oscar Wilde. Collin Yost is a writer and a critic that doesn't really appreciate Instagram poems and defines it as the opposite of what poetry really is.

Atticus Books

Following his emergence as an Instagram poet and the gained popularity, Atticus' poetry has been able to find homes for his numerous poems. He has already published three different collection of poems with two being best sellers. Atticus Books are:

The Dark Between Stars is a New York Times bestseller. The book has been translated into 14 languages including German, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese.

The Truth About Magic was released September 10, 2019.

Atticus third book is titled "Love Her Wild." The book is also a National and International bestselling book. It has been translated into 14 languages including; German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese.

Atticus Poetry Quotes

Here are some of Atticus poetry quotes.

"He looked at her

the way she needed to be looked at

and he wouldn't blink."— Atticus

"That was her gift,

she filled you with the words you didn't know was there."—Atticus

"Poetry is what happens,

when your mind stops working,

and for a moment,

all you do is feel."—Atticus

"that was her magic,

she could still see the sunset

even on those darkest days"— Atticus

1. And the stars blinked, 

as they watched her carefully, 

jealous of the way she shone.

-Atticus

2. At the beginning there was nothing but love and star dust. 

My heart yearns to begin again.

-Atticus

3. "Put your head up," he said. 

For you are a lion. 

Don't forget that 

and neither will the sheep.

-Atticus

4. It was his fault really, 

she had run out of things to dream.

-Atticus

5. I told her I was lost in this world, 

and she smiled, 

because she was too,

we were all lost somehow, 

but we didn't care, 

we had, in the chaos, 

found each other.

-Atticus