Poems For My People

How were these poems written?This collection, Poems for My People: Community, Volume 3 was written primarily in a live setting. While normally the live settings I write in with my typewriter range from coffee shops, food shelf waiting rooms, cideries, university tables, and other public spaces where I perform typewriter poetry busking, this collection is a little different.This is a special volume you’ve got hold of.I include 109 poems, all of which were written only while I sat in Yellow Bike Coffee in Duluth, Minnesota, during April 2023 - July 2024.While perching with creative alertness at my typewriter, sipping an iced maple syrup latte with coconut milk, a bottomless mug of black coffee, or an herbal tea blended locally, I spilled all I could (that wasn’t tea or coffee) onto the typed pages of this book. Each poem is either inspired by individual requests, by setting the tone for myself in prayer, or by what it’s like to take in the atmosphere of the shop.Individual Poems:For each of the poems written for an individual person, someone has especially commissioned me to write it. I’ve asked specific questions of the person making the request to determine what they want the poem to be about. I take notes of what they tell me, and then, I compose a quick draft in my notebook, in pen-usually a navy blue one from my favorite stationery shop, a Japanese one called, Muji.After I create a draft, I type the poem, making minor edits (sometimes the result of a 'mistake' from typing) on my blue Smith Corona Classic 12 typewriter. Finally, I share the poem with the person who requested it, keeping a copy for myself to include in the upcoming collection. The whole process from interview to handing over the poem typically takes under 30 minutes.Prayer Poems:For the prayer poems, I skip the note taking, drafting, and editing in the notebook steps, and I simply type what’s on my heart, directly onto paper with my typewriter. While I’ve not always done this typed prayer poem practice from the beginning of my time as a typewriter poet, after two years of this way of working, it is now usually the first thing I do after I set up my typewriter from its case-and usually just after I’ve had my first sip of coffee. I love how the sound of the clicking keys draws gentle attention. And, it’s crucial to my personal creativity and practice in poetry that I center my words and remember why I write and why I love writing.Place Poems:For each of the place poems, I intended to capture the mood, environment, atmosphere, and overall aesthetics, and ethos of Yellow Bike Coffee. Because this third volume in my rainbow series of poetry collections is yellow, and because Yellow Bike Coffee and its owner, Shannon Cornelius, have been supportive from the beginning of my Poems for My People typewriter poetry project, I wanted this collection to be set apart.As you read the place poems, I invite you to imagine being in a coffee shop. Notice the other people enjoying, studying, chatting, with their cups of goodness. Pay attention to what lights up your senses. Engage with the space and how the baristas interact, how the cafe is decorated, how you feel as part of the 'furniture' while you consume your cup of joy or, 'wake-up juice' as my bearded, furniture-making Englishman husband calls it.Let the space come alive in person and in your imagination.Please do visit Yellow Bike Coffee: https://www.yellowbike.coffee/and maybe you can bring your copy of this book with you!*This collection includes access to audio & visual elements to experience each poem.