TYLER KNOTT GREGSON

Apoet and a photographer, Gregson is known for his Haiku-style writing (Japanese short-form poetry). In fact, he has been writing a Haiku daily for almost nine years. The Montana-based poet has 348K Insta followers and three books to his name, including the popular Chasers of the Light. “My friends and family encouraged me to start sharing my work via social media, but I never intended or expected anyone to actually read what I was doing. I am still amazed that anyone bothers to pay attention, that anyone bothers to care,” he says. “I don’t read a lot of contemporary poetry for a personal reason. I don’t ever want to be influenced by current poetic trends, voices, or themes. I think of poetry as a pressure release valve for my overactive and noisy brain, nothing more. I don’t want to look back and feel like something I wrote felt like something someone else wrote, and not an authentic reaction to my life at the time,” he adds. Being a poet who shares his work on Instagram, Gregson is always exposed to critics and trolls. How does he handle it? “For every five people that enjoy what I do, I am sure there are five that loathe it. People can be kind, and they can be cruel, but it’s all the same. It’s just people who are entitled to their opinions, their beliefs, and their interests. I can’t control the impact words have, the criticism they receive, the fallout after I post the things I’ve written. All I can do is be honest, be open, and be kind no matter what the response.”