Can you picture T.S. Eliot tweeting? Or e.e. cummings thumbing out inspired text messages? How about Shakespeare proclaiming, "Let me not to the gchatting of two minds admit impediments!"

Sure, it's a little ridiculous to envision the Bard with a Blackberry. But mixing poetry (high art) with microblogging (no art?) isn't just happening; it's flourishing. As the web prioritizes shorter, more efficient forms of communication (from email to chat to twitter), poets have taken note...and taken the form to fascinating new places.

Enter Katie Peterson, a poet and Emily Dickinson scholar who tweets under the alias "BuccaneerofBuzz." Even if you're like me and you've laughed a little too hard at Twitter's expense, I challenge you to read Katie's reflective, guileless posts and call the website a mouthpiece of meaninglessness.

To Brooklyn writer Tao Lin, technology is less a theme than a state of mind. "If I lived in the forest, there'd be trees in my work," he says. But he lives in a tech-rich metropolis, and so, he blogs, chats, IMs, and tweets his elegies of failed romances and urban alienation. A full 45% of his upcoming book features gchats lifted straight from his browser.

Not all poets have hopped onto the bandwidth bandwagon. Despite working as a software developer, Ojai poet Robert Peake asserts that the web is categorically UN-poetic: it's designed for seeking information, not composing - or appreciating - Art. Robert blogs about poetry's role as an antidote to the 'mental junk food' on the web.

Set your poetic mind in motion and tell us what you think: Are we on the brink of a Poetic Renaissance? Or will poetry plod along, beautiful and aloof, off the beaten track? Check back here in the coming weeks for readings, videos, and a podcast featuring our three guest Cyber-poets.