Poet Alexander Muñoz Jones found himself sitting outside a wake, booked to write on-the-spot poems for attendees about their experiences in grief, appreciation, or really anything at all. On his antique typewriter he crafted dozens of pieces, finding a myriad of ways to express the love the mourners felt for the departed.
“[They] experienced unbelievable joy through grief,” Jones said. “There were tons of tears and crying and memories and sweetness, all in grief.”
He is part of the Austin Typewriter Poets Collective, a collection of writers and creatives hired to write custom poems at events. The collective is just one part of Austin’s burgeoning typewriter poetry scene. Their work brings these traveling wordsmiths to a diverse set of gatherings, turning memories, curiosities, and love of all kinds into a meaningful keepsake – just give them a topic. Typewriter poets like to describe their work as a collaboration between writer and requester somewhat like improv comedy. The end result is a spur-of-the-moment creation.
“If I just sat down to write a poem, I don’t even know what I would write about right now, but when somebody comes up to me and says, ‘Can you write me a poem about a caterpillar up on the moon?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, okay,’” said Sean Petrie, co-founder of Austin poetry group Typewriter Rodeo.
Jena Kirkpatrick wrote and performed her own poetry for over 10 years before trying out typewriter poetry around 2006. Now a part of Typewriter Rodeo, she’s used to strangers telling her their intimate truths.
“It’s a big honor,” Kirkpatrick said. “You’re just getting this right in your face — someone just telling you their whole life story.”
With the arrival of another Valentine’s Day, many devoted companions are searching for a way to express their love. Typewriter poets specialize in manifesting this feeling into the physical world, creating something that cuts through the capitalist noise of heart-shaped chocolates and stuffed animals.
“Everybody wants to hear what somebody loves about them. It’s so much better than the thing of roses that are just going to die,” Kirkpatrick said.
The poet recalled when a man requested a piece asking for forgiveness from his ex-wife.
“He’d done some pretty shitty things to her and he told me all about them. [He] was honest and was like, ‘I love her, and I really want her back,’” she said. “I crafted this poem that was just really brutally honest.”
The poem prompted the man’s ex-wife to speak with him for the first time in years, said Kirkpatrick.
Rosa Elisa, one-half of local typewriter poet duo Joy Bums Poetry, spent one of her first dates with her partner writing poems together and drinking wine. She describes herself as a “certified lover girl.”
“Typewriter poetry is really interesting because it’s not about us anymore. It becomes about the person who’s in front of us,” Elisa said.
Though writing a poem every five minutes for hours at a time can be exhausting, the spiritual benefits gained from writing motivate the poets.
“There’s just nothing like it,” Kirkpatrick said. “To [hear] someone say, ‘You did it. You captured my love, my dog, my father, my this,’ it’s just like, right to the heart.”
However, not all of the requested relationship-based poems are meant to be romantic. Petrie of Typewriter Rodeo received an unusual request one Valentine’s Day from a University of Texas senior while set up outside of the University Co-op. About to leave the state for graduate school, the student asked for a poem he could use to break up with his girlfriend who still had another year of school left. He didn’t want a long-distance relationship.
“I ended up writing a poem more to her saying, ‘Hey, you’re actually dodging a bullet because this guy doesn’t even have the guts to tell you in person,’” Petrie said.
Whether a poem about pets, strawberries, or laundry, the roots of a typewriter poem can almost always be traced back to love.
“Most poems about love are not just about love, but about some specific thing,” Petrie said.
That’s a reason why these poems – brief, simple gestures of recognition or emotional validation – create such moving experiences.
“My favorite moment is them getting that poem,” Kirkpatrick said. “Every once in a while, they’ll come around the table and give you a hug, or they’ll cry good tears. How often do we get that kind of connection [nowadays]?”
Want to write your own Valentine’s Day poem – and have it actually be good? Here’s advice from the pros.
- Be Specific: Write about specific things your person likes rather than love as a general topic. What’s your favorite thing about them?
- Highlight the Mundane: Make use of everyday settings and experiences in the life of you and your partner. Some of the best love poems are able to turn the unnoticed into beauty.
- Avoid Cliches: The first thing that pops into your head when trying to come up with a poem might be a variation of “Roses are red, violets are blue,” but try to avoid cliches if you don’t want to come off as lazy. You don’t have to rhyme either!
- Short Is Good: It doesn’t have to be long to be impactful. You can say a lot with just a few words!
- Be Honest: If you’re honest and genuine, that’s what’ll matter most to your partner – just don’t use the poem as an excuse to air your grievances.
- Write For Your Own Expression: Do it for yourself first, even if it’s for somebody else. Write for your need to express something, not your need for admiration. That’s how the best art is created.