Poetry Factory: ArtsPark Fest

Carol Stephen was typing poems for the Poetry Factory. Arc Magazine had a typewriter set up at ArtsPark.

It was a colorful place to be. Arts Park is a community fair day, annual since 2004 with art and craft booths, music, food, and poetry.

It ran all day with about a dozen different poets taking a turn at the manual typewriter doing instant poems on donation from passersby. Guy Simser, Gillian Wallace, LM Rochefort, Claudia Coutu Radmore, Dayanti Karunaratne and others hopped into the typist seat.

JC Sulzenko wrote poems on the spot for these two paying customers.

One couple threw in $5 for a poem about them. People drop the details they like for an occasion poem or pull the random words out of the bowl and see what happens.

Amanda Rheaume was playing on stage. [Apparently we just missed Lucky Ron.]

World Slam Champ, and recent giver-of-Pre-Tree-Workshops, Ian Keteku performed some poems for stage, making amendments for the family crowd, switching his ‘shit’ for ‘shift’. John Akpata was up next but unfortunately my camera died.

This juggler [photo by Brian] was also a unicyclist and had a whole drove of children chasing after him like the Pied Piper.

A young man made poems in the magnetic poetry.

So did these young ladies. If they wanted they could transcribe to paper their creations, and enter a draw for a free magazine or subscription. Kate was on hand to happily dole out poetry post cards, magazines, information and cheer. Her own post on the event is here. And another at Local Tourist Ottawa.

Some adults stopped too, and this one even won an Arc.

Brian took a picture of me doing my first poem, which I commissioned him to commission me to write so I could learn how to use a manual. I can see how typewriters are conducive to concrete poems. My fingers went between the keys or went too fast and the letters on the wing-things got stuck. Hit too hard, or, too soft.

I got the hang of it tho.