Photograph by Yelena Yemchuk. Fashion editor: Rae Boxer. Fashion Assistant: Alex Tudela. Grooming by Kristi Matamoros at Kate Ryan Inc. for CK One Cosmetics.Steve Roggenbuck wears his own ‘‘live my lief’’ t-shirt printed on Alta Gracia tee, $20; livemylief.com. Ethletic Fair Trade, Ethically Produced shoes, $54; autonomieproject.com.Prepare to love a poet, to get poems stuck in your head like they were pop songs — like it was the age of Homer or Milton or Poe, when poets were pop stars. According to the 24-year-old M.F.A. dropout Steve Roggenbuck, “We are entering a golden age of literature” that is perfect for poetry. Chunks of verse should populate the “content streams” on phones and Facebook feeds. His do.
Roggenbuck might be the first 21st-century poet. The Internet’s staccato vernacular comes alive in his work, as does the vernacular of everyday life. References to Justin Bieber — even repeatedly calling things “beautiful” or saying “I want you” — feel profound.
He reaches an audience that dwarfs those of traditional journals. But he’s polarizing. He makes odd videos that, at first glance, resemble sloppy blogs. He reads poems from his printed book over music on YouTube. He creates Twitter- and Tumblr-friendly image macros by setting words in Helvetica on top of puppy or nebula photos. Some in the establishment say he’s not a poet.
Others, like Don Share, senior editor of Poetry Magazine, consider Roggenbuck the kind of new voice that one rarely finds. Daily life “often filters through to poetry, but in a studied, literary way,” he explains. “The liveliness in Steve’s work is direct — deceptively so. You connect right away. But what he does is complicated. It’s disruptive. It bears rereading.” And retweeting.
For a look at his poems, visit iamlikeoctoberwheniamdead.com and livemylief.com.
