Charlottesville Poem Store

Typewriter Poetry News

Read the latest updates from Charlottesville Poem Store, including market and event recaps and some of our favorite poems written for customers.

  • One year of typing poems for strangers

    One year of typing poems for strangers

    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. It began 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.

    In 2022, I started working on a concept for the poem store and it has been almost exactly 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.

  • Three Hundred Poems

    Three Hundred Poems

    I have a photo of every poem I’ve written (for others) since May of 2023. This morning I counted 300 poems exactly.

    300 conversations, 300 connections, 300 people who have shared their gardens, birthdays, children, dogs, pain, births, goats, pigs, deaths, hearts with me. That number is so moving, and really astounding to me as a shy introvert.

    Thank you to every person with whom I’ve connected over these past 11 months.

    You are all important to me.

    Laura

  • Bellavance Ink Typewriter Stickers

    Bellavance Ink Typewriter Stickers

    I sent Jesse at Bellavance Ink a photo of
    my precioussssss
    aka my Royal Quiet De Luxe
    and asked if he would consider creating a typewriter design.

    He very kindly agreed, and just look at what a beautiful job he’s done with it! Spot on, down to the narrow placement of the rolls that help me deal with my narrow bird paper.

    My baby…all grown up and in sticker form…*sniff*

    The official typewriter of Charlottesville Poem Store can live on your water bottle, your laptop, your car, or wherever reputable stickers live.

    I’m so thrilled to have these stickers available for purchase at the farmer’s market, and here on my site soon.

  • Three Months

    Three Months

    I’ve been writing poems at the market for three months.

    Things are a little different from when I first started. I sit under a tent to keep myself and my machine out of the sun. I write a little faster and more freely, guess that comes with practice and experience. I have floating frames for sale, and Mystery Poems, and some other literary odds and ends.

    My favorite change: I have repeat customers now, people who return again and again for poems to mark special occasions.

    I’ll be at the Farmer’s Market at Ix every Saturday for the foreseeable future (except I’ll be at the Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival the first weekend of October). I love the market managers and fellow vendors at Farmer’s Market at Ix, and have made many good friends there these past 90-ish days.

    If you’re in Charlottesville on a Saturday morning and have an urgent poetry need, stop by and see me.

    Laura

  • That Thing They Say About the Third Time

    That Thing They Say About the Third Time

    Our third Saturday writing poems at the market is in the books! So many poems, so little time, and we found ourselves reluctantly turning away customers as we wrote our last lines of the morning.

    We wrote about cellular health, bats, anniversaries, and lovers. And during a brief pause in the action, we sold an owl pin to a very sweet customer.

    This was the first truly hot market day of the season and we barely survived without a tent, so it’s time to invest in some shade for sure. New and improved Charlottesville Poem Store digs are on their way!

    See you soon,
    L&J

  • Saturday market

    Saturday market

    We spent a Saturday morning at the farmer’s market writing poems for market-goers. It was a gorgeous morning, chilly to start but we warmed up quickly after the sun crested the top of the tree line.

    Our first-ever market customer was…a poet. There is no better way to kick off a business venture than with our brain’s immediate baptism in imposter syndrome neurochemicals.

    Her time at the market was short, as she had a nature walk to attend, so when she returned a few minutes after providing her prompt I suggested that she finish the poem with me. Oh, she loved the idea, so she sat at the Royal, took up after my first three stanzas, and closed ‘er out. What a beautiful way to begin this new adventure.