Poets with typewriters hit the street
The sound of tap, tap, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzip drew a crowd this week as poets with typewriters hit the street in downtown Calgary. Of course I was there. Like a bee drawn to honey.
The Pop-Up Poetry event brought together some of the city’s finest poets, including Micheline Maylor, Calgary’s own Poet Laureate 2016-18 who teaches at Mount Royal University. She was joined by three other talented word handlers, colleagues and acclaimed poets; Richard Harrison, Cassy Welburn, Derek Beaulieu.
improv poetry
The whole idea was that passersby could pick a word that they wanted a poem about and the poets would get busy, on the spot, writing a poem on the typewriter based on that word. Some kind of crazy improv poetry indeed! I marveled at the talent on the typewriter keys as I can’t imagine having to come up with anything worth reading so spontaneously.
a poem about a mail box
My word for poet Richard Harrison was ‘mailbox.’ The typewriter he was using required a bit of extra attention to nudge it along, but soon enough the keys were flying. In no more than five minutes he wrote this enchanting poem for me. And then, he read it aloud. Absolutely captivating. Thank you Richard. Such a gift.
picking the perfect word
The words chosen ranged from the personal to the bizarre. Above is a photo of Richard Harrison reading the poem he wrote about the word ‘kindness’ aloud to the person who chose this word.
I noticed that while in line, the choice of word generated much discussion, some people changing their word several times before settling on just the right one. This is what one does in anticipation of a poem written just for them.
line-ups for a poem
It was a most ingenious idea of an event, organized by Mount Royal University, with the intent to feature the Poet Laureate, the power of the written word and bring it to the people. I spoke with event organizer, Bryan Weismiller, Communications Officer for MRU and he was blown away by the positive response and interest by the people of Calgary. To his delight there was a line-up of people, young and old, waiting for their poems.
When I asked Bryan if he thought there would be more Pop-Up Poetry events, he thought that perhaps the fingers behind the typewriter keys needed to rest up first.
I have the distinct feeling that the poets with typewriters will hit the streets of Calgary in the near future; just follow the sound of the typewriters.
What word would you have picked to have a poem written about?
What a great idea to have poets do the writing (and typing!). Your word choice and the resulting poem . . . wonderful. I have a few typewriters . . . this might be the seed of a new idea for how to use them more often. Thanks for sharing.
Hi there Christine, I loved the poem too. I couldn’t believe he wrote it in less than 5 minutes! I would love to hear if you give your typewriters some literary exercise… 🙂
I love this idea! and I really like the poem he wrote for you!
I could totally see this happening in Guelph. Got a typewriter? 😉
Barb, I believe there are no coincidences in life. How fitting that you would be in that spot at the time this event took place. The universe is listening and they say that’s when you know you’re on the right path. That spontaneous poem was about the mailbox was poetic and clever. As they say, writers are the real geniuses.
It was pretty cool timing Anita, no doubt about it. I too love the poem. It was awestruck at how the writers kept the typewriter keys busy writing poem after poem. Amazing. Thanks for your kind words.
Such a wonderful event and beautifully relived through your blog!! Thanks, Barb. Oh and the word (and the poem that was written) was a great select. “Someone reads here…I say…send a word” ……..
Manisha, I so loved running into you there. How cool was that?! I thought your word and poem ‘kindness’ was so awesome too. See you next time 🙂