On May 20, 2024 Charlottesville Poem Store celebrated our one year anniversary typing for strangers in central Virginia and beyond.
But Charlottesville Poem Store actually began in 1981, the year I started keeping a journal.
And in 1984, the year I received my first typewriter as a gift.
2008, the year I started sharing my writing online.
2015, my first encounter with the typewriter poets of Typewriter Rodeo at the National Museum of American History’s TYPE-O-RAMA event.
2022, the year I started working on a concept for the poem store.
It has been a year since our first day typing poems at Farmer’s Market at Ix, but Charlottesville Poem Store has been a lifetime in the making.
I wrote over 300 poems this year. That’s 300 moments of true connection and intimacy.
I think about my customers all the time, wonder how they are doing, how the trip went,
if their hearts are healing,
if the loss still stings
(it does)
I have made so many new friends through this venture — you know who you are. 🥰
I am so grateful to the crew at Market Central for giving us a home base. 💕
And I am grateful to anyone still reading this post, you’re a real one.