Deep Underground Poetry has closed down.

Deep Underground Poetry was a poetry and creative writing community founded in 1999. The website ran at this web address from August 2009 until 12th May 2025.

DU Poetry was home to over 40,000 members during those 15 years and hosted around half a million creative works (poetry, prose, short stories and spoken word).

The website operated with the help of lots of volunteer members. These members were instrumental in building the DU Poetry community. They looked after groups, welcomed new members, ran both our popular annual NaPoWriMo poetry month competition and our official podcast. Plus our regular 'Top Critiquers' gave lots of valuable feedback to help other members improve their writing. I'd also like to extend a very special thank you to those members who became DU Supporters, or served as Guardians of Shadows (moderators).

During the life of DU Poetry, we witnessed the Internet change in so many ways. Smaller sites closed and multinational corporations began to dominate social networking and the hosting of user generated content. The complexity of data privacy, freedom of speech and online safety laws which came in across the globe, made the landscape very challenging for small, not for profit websites. As founder, I no longer had the spare time required to do the site justice, so I made the difficult decision to close DU down.

Thank you to everyone who passed by over the years and made the site special to so many people, I know DU Poetry has fostered many lifelong friendships, and I wish you all well in the future.