Poem: Shut Up

Snowed in a little cabin in the hills of Amherst County there didn't seem to be much to say...

Poem: Fearful

Typed on the 1951 Voss I scored at Herman Price's typewriter collector gathering this year.

Poem: Reflection on Art

Written Oct 15, 18 on my 1951 Hermes 2000 outside of Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea in Salem

Poems: Brewing Storm, Hurricane Florence

It sucks just getting one full day at the beach but an evacuation is an evacuation... 

If it is not clear, my father was an officer on a USN nuclear submarine. 

If you didn't see it in posts from previous years I do in fact have a typewriter I keep specifically for use ON the beach.  It's an Underwood 319 and somewhat expendable.

Poem: Meadowdeep

Poem: Creepy Trellis

I still haven't, and will not, walk under this... something creeps me out about it.

 

Street Poetry: Events: McClintock Distilling July 2018

The July event at McClintock Distilling in Frederick, Maryland (click this to see their website) to debut their new Bootjack Aged Rye Whiskey was a lot of fun and a great venue for my friend Jeff Stanford and I to write some street-poems.  The distillery itself is a great building over 100-years-old formerly used to service turn-of-the-century battery electric cars.  That alone would be a reason to stop by if you are passing through Frederick but of course the real reason are the fine liquors.  If you are gin drinker you absolutely owe yourself a look at McClintock, it's their most exceptional product (they didn't ask me to say that but they let me try everything they had and sent me home with a few bottles of different things and I am telling you... I definitely hope we get invited back!)

These awesome photographs (except for the one below of the poem) were taken by good friend and co-poet Jeff Stanford.  If you're even remotely close to the Baltimore area and need a photographer you should take a a look at his exceptional work by clicking right here!

I wrote a few pretty good poems for folks, this was probably my favorite and one of the few I remembered to photograph

We were having so much fun writing poems and talking to folks the time flew right by.

Street-poetry is a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people and learn interesting things.

I had a lot of fun doing this, and would love to do other events, maybe weddings or corporate events or more products debuts...  I can work alone or bring along one of a few of several poet-friends like Jeff!  If you want a typewriter poet, contact me via mail or email and let's talk about what we can do.  Both my current email and mailing address are in the contact info at the top right of this blog.

Poem: A Visual Poem

Maybe it's about writing a typewriter versus writing on an ipad.  Or maybe it's about sex versus pornography.  Or maybe it's about watching reality TV.  I guess it could be about a lot of things.

Poem: Languages

 

1942 Klein Urania

My German is certainly not good enough for poetry, but I guess inspired myself to attempt it anyway!

Poem: Dusk

Poem: The Tall Grasses Beckon

Typed on my trusty go-to machine, my 1941 Royal Aristocrat.

Poem: Summer Reflection

I like being able to use a somewhat dark machine for writing uplifting poems.  The Olympia Robust is a wartime typewriter made during the Third Reich. 

My Olympia Robust next to a Double Lemon (lemon crunch ice cream in lemon soda) at Pop's Ice Cream and Soda Bar in Roanoke Virginia.  Check out the old gooseneck soda fountain in the background they used to make my drink!

Poem: Morning Veil

My charcoal grey 1956 Royal Quiet De Luxe

PSA: Do you REALLY know how to use a stapler?

For a long time, I did not.  At least not to their greatest potential...

The part which the staple presses down into is called the anvil, and most staplers have a two mode anvil where one pushes the ends of the staple inward and the other pushes them outward.  Sometimes the anvil slides to adjust, sometimes it is pushed up from the bottom, and I have even seen ones where it flips.

My Arrow 210 has a three position anvil, described on the instruction booklet below.

Aha!  There IS a reason for the outward staple!  It's a temporary staple.  If you choose to begin using these you will not need the scary-teeth-looking tool so many of us have seen and used.  You will only need your fingers.

Check out this very short video to see how much easier your life is about to become:

Poem: Taken By Typewriters

Typed on my 1939 Erika 5 at Mill Mountain Coffee in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Poem: West Virginia Sex Shop

May 30, 2018:

I thought I might focus this blog a little more on poetry while maintaining a strong typewriter presence.  Hopefully the change results in more posts in general. 
Today I have a 1951 Gossen Tippa which I fell in love with minutes before Richard Polt kindly offered to let me buy it from him.  It came with a letter documenting its history of traveling with the first owner as he moved to Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, Canada... it's been all over the place.  I am very grateful for the machine and also to know the history of it.  I mean, how often do we ever get to know such things about the machines we love?
The poem is about love too... written in a hotel lobby the night/morning of May 18/19th in Midloathian, Virginia while reflecting on a drive through part of West Virginia the day before.

Short Piece About Me on PBS

I am sorry for the hiatus since my last post.  Here is one of the things which I have been busy with (thanks to Blue Ridge PBS):

WHAT'S YOUR STORY?: MARK PETERSEN, TYPEWRITER ENTHUSIAST from Blue Ridge PBS on Vimeo.