Wednesday, May 30, 2018

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.



8 comments:

  1. Nice Tippa. I have one from 54. I really like it, but if I type more than about half a page at one sitting the action gets tiring.

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    1. I love the action! For me the only flaw is the noise. I am sure this would be fixed with a new platen... maybe someday...

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  2. It is ironic that the second line of your poem references microcomputer software that began the process of supplanting the typewriter in the writing process: Word Perfect.

    I feel privileged to have seen that typewriter and its letter of provenance in the flesh just a few days ago. Thank you for your hospitality, and I like this new direction you're taking with this blog. You're uniquely qualified for it, and I look forward to seeing what happens!

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    1. Thank you! You are more than welcome to return sometime!

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  3. heh, I wonder if we'd get more comments if we were more diligent in posting links to our blog posts into our social media timelines. I haven't noticed much of an effect in the ones that I have posted, but maybe frequency is the key... Seems like they oughta be good for something less ephemeral..

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    1. Yes Ted it definitely motivates me (reminds me!) to come back and drink at the wonderful wellsprings you guys keep going.

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  4. Ted, I think you’re on to something, I’ll try it myself.

    Mark, nice poem, and I like this new direction of the blog.

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  5. Well done. Keep the Tippa clacking and the poetry coming!

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