So, do you walk around shopping malls with a typewriter?
No, absolutely not! The “Walking Mall” is the Old Town Winchester Walking Mall in Virginia. A “walking mall” is an open-forum gathering space at the center of a town or city where pedestrians can amble about to different shops, restaurant and entertainment. Winchester’s main thoroughfare - Loudoun Street - was bricked up a few years ago, closed to cars and open to pedestrians. It is an amazing destination to see Federal architecture among aged buildings and fun businesses.
Ah, I see. Very original! So how do I get a poem?
All I need is a topic, any topic in the world. Most people will ask for something for family, friend or a pet, or to celebrate a memory or an activity. Lots of people ask for love. But it truly is anything* - I’ve written poetic toasts, joke poems as pranks, dramatic fantasy epics, and blessings for kombucha, just to name a few. Then, after some questions and a few minutes of typing, I will read you a completed poem and hand it to you, signed and dated. Then, it is your own piece of art to keep forever.
You can’t come up with these poems on the fly, that’s impossible.
I personally guarantee that each poem I write is a unique creation on its own. After all, I give the most credit for the poem to the person who commissions it! People give me amazing, personal stories that fuel my writing. However, I and other street poets will often repeat certain themes, phrases, and ideas from poem-to-poem, kind of like our own little melody of the world around us. My themes always focus on infinitude - you will find I often write words like “forever” and “always” to describe the “joy” of the “heart.”
My 1947 Smith Corona Silent and my pomeranian, Max.
Deep. So are you the only one doing this? I’ve never seen this before.
A lot of street poets think they are the first of their kind! But street poetry is a small but thriving subculture of poetic art. You can find some of my favorite street poets in the “Partners” page of the website, but there are dozens who all accept commission and create on-demand. Also, when there isn’t a pandemic, New Orleans is a street poet’s destination - you can often find more than two, three people at a time “busking” poems on the street.
“Busking,” by the way, is a nice, shorter word to describe street performing, placing my writing machine in the same category as jugglers, guitarists, and organ grinders.
Huh, “busking,” that’s different. How in the world did you get started with this?
I have to thank Mrs. Poet for this one - she suggested I try it as a cute thing for Valentine’s Day Week in 2018 to take requests. A theatre teacher herself, she actually sat across from me at our dining room table and pretended to be random people, and I wrote some test poems for her “characters” to make sure I felt confident in the process.
The next day, I went to the Walking Mall and wrote my first poem on request - a love poem inspired by the song “Moon River.” Nothing matched the exhilaration of coming up with rhyme on-the-fly, of hearing someone’s story, of that moment of meaning. The rest, as they say, is history.
Writing at the Old Town Winchester Farmer’s Market during the summer of 2019.
Okay, the catch: How much do I owe you for a poem on the street?
Poetry is such an anti-commodity, that years into this, I still feel weird getting paid at all! Often, I offer the opportunity of a donation, mentioning a suggested donation. I truly mean that you can donate anything you want - or can! Poetry is meant to be accessible to all, and if you are financially strained, by all means give what you feel you can, or let me know.
For weddings and events, I consider it more of an interactive performance, like an actor or a musician, and I charge a fee to entertain. For more information, submit a request for a quote on our Weddings or Events pages.
Wait - how in the world does this work at an event?
The same it does on the street, except I am also able to celebrate the special occasion! For the entirety of the evening, I am at the whim of your guests, who often will try to one-up each other’s requests and enshrine in ink memories celebrating a special couple or the company. For weddings, my wife joins me and helps take requests so I can type more poems. I can average about seven to eight poems an hour with her, and six to seven without her - I just love to talk. I can even do virtual events as well!
Wow, what a beautiful working typewriter! How can I get one?
Typewriter shopping is like shopping for a used car - you don’t know if you will end up with a lemon, and the market is very, very weird! Some great machines are amazingly cheap, and other broken machines are super expensive.
Luckily, I do offer genuine refurbished typewriters for sale and/or for rent! Just head over to the Typewriters page and check out what is available (page under construction, will be available soon!). Rental quotes are custom-tailored based on circumstances. All my typewriters are serviced and maintained by me, and come with a poet’s guarantee!
1969 Brother Opus 888 tucked under the Old Town Winchester Christmas Tree.
But do they even sell ribbon for those anymore?
Typewriters are growing in popularity as more and more people (like me) learn that the digital revolution isn’t all that it is hyped up to be. We even have our own counter-revolution - the Typewriter Revolution. But, to answer the question, yes, ribbons are definitely still available, whether you need the low-cost universal ribbon or metal-spooled classic ribbon.
But wait - What is your real job?
Believe it or not, I do spend a large share of my time working on and maintaining my small typewriter poetry business. In addition to writing on the street, I type at weddings and events, take commissions, run a Twitch show, post regularly on Instagram, and maintain my expansive collection of over forty typewriters!
That does still leave me some time to do community engagement and grant writing for local nonprofits, flip and sell random things on my eBay, and train to become a real estate agent.
Nonprofits? Are you a nonprofit?
No, Walking Mall Poet is a for-profit art business. But I am very interested in giving back, particularly to help children expand their creative writing with typewriters, just as was done for me so many years ago! My particular interest is schools and classrooms: if you are an English or Creative Writing teacher and you want your kids to have the opportunity to use the machine that wrote the story of America, then reach out on my contact page and let’s collaborate!
Why are you doing this?
If I had a sort of “mission statement” it would be the quote from Thomas Merton you can find on my About Me page. But really, all I am trying to do is just make the world around me a little brighter place. Everything - and everyone - deserves a little poetry after all!
*In regards to off-limit topics, currently I only have one: no explicit endorsements of specific politicians. However, as a disclaimer, if you request a poem on religion, politics in general, or sex, be prepared to receive something that inherently mixes my own personal beliefs.