Issue 1: Summer at the Market

In which we establish that typing poems on demand outside in the summertime is a tricky affair.

Greetings.

Welcome to the first issue of The Platen, a reliving of the hottest market days of 2024.

I’m writing this intro on my back deck on a 52º F August morning, recalling the steamy days of this summer while sipping hot coffee from a favorite mug.

Let’s dig into the past few months of typewriter poetry together, shall we?

— Laura (Founder and Poet-in-Chief of Charlottesville Poem Store)

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Summer recap.

Humid, dark mornings. Downpours, dripping typewriters and brows, wilted paper, sweat-drenched dresses, sticky thighs on hot plastic chairs. Still air pulsing with loud music.

Writing at a summer market forces self-care — drinking water, battery-powered fan, breathing from the diaphragm, cool cloth and cold spray on the neck — or nothing works as it should and no words come.

People wander into our booth holding sausage sandwiches, slurping smoothies, licking melting popsicles that splatter onto our rug and tables.

Little hands covered in paint and crumbs reach for business cards, crumple vintage paper, leave smears of yellow, red, blue on our tablecloth.

Dogs sniff our curtains and lift a leg before being pulled to heel, usually in time but sometimes not. 

Body heat, Motown, dog day cicadas, short shorts, a parade of grad students and northern Virginia retirees. I’m selling connection inside my sweltering tent, each poem a wringing out of damp communion to render drops of truth and beauty. 

One frigid morning this December I will cup my aching hands around my mouth to catch my own defrosting breath, and I will think back on the summer market and recall how I wished this heat away.

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Asking for a friend.

It’s late August, Starbucks has already rolled out the pumpkin-flavored abominations (apologies if you are a PSL fan), and in Virginia we are being teased with fall-like temperatures. But we understand this to be deception.

Here at Charlottesville Poem Store we are ready, so very ready for fall to actually begin. But we understand that not everyone works outside in the heat, not everyone pines for crisp breezes and corduroy, not everyone has lived through The Inferno and is ready to move on.

How about you, dear reader? Are you ready? Ready for sweater weather, ready for steaming mugs of coffee, falling leaves, bonfires, all of the things?

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Poem.

He asked me if I knew parchment, if I understood parchment, true parchment made from animal skins, if I knew that men of faith made copy after copy of ancient scripture on parchment. 

And then I became the animal, flayed, my hide laid open to receive the ink, to receive the record of the sins of mankind, so like a tattoo (what some call the mark of the beast).

PARCHMENT

scratch your story
where my edges began,
thick hide holding in
all of my blood and bone —

make it worthy of my bitter end, 
sharp puncture, then senseless 
and unseeing;

redeem my last howl 
with your sacramental 
baptism of india ink, 

staining your fingers 
and smudging

the spaces where my
muscle once rubbed 
and pulled, full of 
wild and dark 
abandon.

Charlottesville Poem Store
8/17/2024

What are your thoughts about this poem? Subscribers are invited to add comments and hold discussions with us and other readers!

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Market story: Joe

One Saturday morning we found ourselves having to scrounge up our usual market magic without Joe. 

Joe Vena was the Creative Director for our market venue, an impressive and broad-reaching role.

But I knew Joe for his chalk drawings, welcoming presence at the kids’ art table, and eclectic playlists blasting from the sound system.

Joe made my market mornings at Ix really special. I even wrote a poem for Joe and his inspiring playlists.

And then one Saturday morning, there was no more Joe.

My understanding: for financial reasons, the venue needed to scale back operations, and unfortunately that included Joe’s position.

That morning, Trey went ahead and queued up one of my own playlists on the iPad that controls the sound system.

The JBird folks, whose booth sits directly under the speakers, gave the playlist a thumbs up. It wasn’t what Joe might have chosen, but it wasn’t going to be easy to fill his shoes at the market.

Here is what we all listened to that day.

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Typewriter Poetry 101: A How-to Series

In this paid subscriber-only series of posts we will take a deep dive on the typewriter poetry business. We will share everything that we’ve learned after years at work writing custom poems on demand at the market. 

Topics we plan to explore include:

• who is qualified to write typewriter poetry

• how to prepare to be a typewriter poet

• equipment needed to start a typewriter poetry business

• where to find typewriters for sale

• typewriter care basics

• where to buy replacement typewriter ribbons

• choosing the best paper for your typewriter poems

• why farmers markets are perfect for typewriter poetry

• how to become a farmers market vendor

• tips for your first day as a typewriter poet

• how to handle requests for things other than poems

• how to handle uncomfortable poem prompts

• my approach to writing a custom poem

• mistakes i’ve  made when writing a custom poem

• typos and what to do about them

• dealing with strong emotional reactions to your poems

• knowing when it’s time to take a break from typewriter poetry

• how to avoid typewriter poetry burnout

• breaking into private events and wedding gigs

…and this list really only scratches the surface, there are about a zillion more topics that I plan to share with you as part of this series. Hope you consider joining me in the fun!

We’ll begin this series of paid subscriber-only posts soon, so if you’d like to catch the series from the beginning, please sign up for a paid subscription:

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September events.

After a busy summer, we’re looking forward to some regular weeks of Saturday markets and not much else (except possibly some poem commissions).

But before our days of leisure can begin, we do have three special events coming up in September in addition to our market appearances:

Poem-crafted Cocktails

Friday, September 6, 2024, 8-10 PM
Speakeasy + Whiskey Bar, The Doyle Hotel, Charlottesville, VA

This monthly event, recently written up in The Daily Progress, happens every first Friday of the month at Speakeasy + Whiskey Bar (formerly Bobboo), located at The Doyle Hotel (formerly Quirk Hotel).

Come tell me a bit about yourself, receive a custom poem, then take the poem to the bar and let Joel create a bespoke cocktail for you based on your poem. Insider’s tip: come early to be sure to get a spot on the signup sheet! Send me a DM to let me know you’re coming:

Prints, Platters, and Pints

Sunday, September 8, 2024, 12 - 5 PM
Potter’s Craft Cider, Charlottesville, VA

Billed as a vintage, vinyl, screenprint, and artisan market with DJs and live music, this quarterly-ish event is held at Potter’s Craft Cider and is a complete blast.

This is the kind of event that we can hardly call “work”; we love the venue, the other vendors, the vinyl, literally the entire vibe, and we would 100% be hanging out here on a Sunday afternoon even if we didn’t have a Very Important Poetry (VIP) job to do. Check out PPP’s Instagram account to stay in the loop! And send me a DM to let me know you’re coming:

Pop-up with Pétale @ ZINC Vintage Market

Friday & Saturday, September 13-14, 2024, 9a to 6p (our hours may vary)
Misty Mountain Campground, Greenwood, VA

We are popping up inside Pétale’s pop-up (keeping you on your meta-toes) at the ZINC Vintage Market. Pétale offers curated tea experiences in the comfort of your own home or venue, and everyone knows that tea and poetry were made for each other.

Come meet Sarah, learn about her wonderful offerings, sample her amazing tea blends, and buy a custom poem or a pin or bookmark from us! Check out Pétale’s Instagram account to stay in the loop! And send me a DM to let me know you’re coming:

Farmers Market at Ix

Saturday, September 21 & 28, 8a to 12p
Ix Art Park, Charlottesville, VA

Come find us at our flagship market, the place where it all started, our home away from home, the Farmers Market at Ix located in Ix Art Park in Charlottesville.

We are ready to roll by 8 am and take our last poem prompt at 11:30 am and not one moment later. We sell bookmarks and pins, and have seasonal items to offer from time to time. Hope to see you there!

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Anaaand…that’s a wrap.

Thank you for reading to the very end of this first issue of The Platen.

I hope you enjoyed it, but whether you did or did not, please let me know?

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