Why is it so hard to be a Poet on Vocal?

Don't get me wrong signing up to Vocal during a global pandemic has got to be one of the best ideas I have ever had. I have always written songs, but my writing output went into overdrive when I met the love of my life, and she became my muse and the reason behind everything you see here.

The majority of my work is poetry, and to be honest my work did not start to take off until this year ( nearly four years after joining). I never had a "Top Story" until this year, currently I have four top stories, to which I am so grateful for. My subscribers have seen an increase too, currently sitting at 115. I know I have my top stories to thank for that. I am just over 6,000 total reads, and been featured on a really great podcast which is absolute madness to me.

Don't misunderstand me all of my milestones on this platform really are a dream. I just wonder why I've not reached them as quickly as my fellow writers, people who have maybe not been on here for as long as I have. I know I'm a good writer, so does Vocal have favourites? I am a prolific writer, and I churn out content as quickly as day turns into night. It all comes down to one thing for me, the category my work falls in.

Poetry really is a lost art, and my work doesn't really fit the criteria for recent poetry challenges I've seen on here. I'm sorry Vocal I just can't write a poem about an inanimate object or "something smooth". For me poetry is about emotion. I bare my soul here each time I post new content here. It is my diary. It is all the words I wish I could say to the woman I love, and I feel by requesting a true poet to write about smooth things, or objects Vocal is making a mockery of that.

Bottom line is I don't feel Vocal is doing enough to support poets on it's platform. I have tried to branch out into other categories, but ironically it's poetry that works best for me. It breaks my heart that it doesn't get as much air time as say fiction does, and I feel Vocal could do a lot more to bring poetry to the forefront.

Another thing that really gets to me is how poetry is considered easy by some. I would argue that it's the hardest not just for all the reasons I've already mentioned above, but also because poetry strips you of your ego, it's honest. It catapults you out in to the world, flaws an all. I know what you're gonna say to me "but Frankie all genre's of writing make you feel like that", to which I'll reply " no my friend not in the way that poetry does".

If you didn't already know or you don't subscribe to me. I'm a musician and the poems I write on here are actually lyrics to the songs I've written. I couldn't go to band practice over lockdown, but I still wanted to be heard, so I put my words here. I have found in doing so there is something so raw about words on a page without the music no masks, no razzle dazzle, just my lyrics, which are the most important part of any composition in my opinion.

This is by no means a rant at Vocal it's a thanks to them for everything they have done so far, but I know they can do more for poets especially!!

Thank you to you if you subscribe to me and, even if you don't thank you for reading it means the absolute world and more.