Michael Sanacore, Chris Riddle and I made these one-of-a-kind invitations to an after-party earlier this year. Something about the flexibility and the limitations of the typewriter was really inspiring. It made me think of the typewriter in a whole new way. It’s really a miniature printing press, that can only use one font, one style, one size, one color and one weight. But other than that — you can use almost any size paper, any orientation. It’s really marvelous, and lots of fun. They turned out very well I think. My favorite one:
“Don’t listen to her. Come to the after-party.”
Lithe voices glide
like spirits in mist
short words spoken close.
Closed mouths tight lips
give way to sentences, vines
outstretched tendrils grasping
rich air for meaning, moisture.
The ecstasy is the infamy
of blasphemy, to marry flesh
in intimacy, crying out for more
and less and more.
Tell her something perfect
he says to himself, his lips stir — she cuts in
“Everything will be wrong tomorrw.”
“Then anything is right tonight.”
Losing count of drinks, cigarettes
kisses, they blur, until
the edge of the world
is the end of the night.
I wrote this on my typewriter, October 8, 2008.
I’m aware of some of it’s faults, but I welcome further criticism. And I don’t like the title.
After many months of searching, I finally found something I had been looking for. Or, more accurately, it found me. I was on my way back to the office from the bank (payday!) and I took a more circuitous route so as to dodge a man who tried to hustle me out of $30 on Pack Square. I passed College Street, going up the hill toward Haywood where I noticed an antique store that I hadn’t been into in years. I was really looking for 78s or Victrolas, but then I saw it: a black suitcase. It contained a portable manual typewriter, a Corona, made by Standard. (Standard eventually named themselves after their most popular model.) The case has some mold and overall grime, but is in good condition. It appears that someone has already replaced the hinges, and they did a good job, but the real gem is the typewriter, which is in very fine condition outside of needing a new ribbon. I suppose that there is not much that can go wrong with them, but I have little experience with typewriters and my reaction to anything that old is “I can’t believe it still works– MUST PURCHASE.” I’ll try and get a pic of it up soon.
It’s given me a flurry of new ideas:
- Every morning, upon waking I should sit at the typewriter and knock out a list. I’ve already done this once, and it was an excellent mental wake up. I’ll post this list later.
- At the recent ‘Co-dependent’s Day Party’ I left the typewriter in the living room and left “Please type something controversial” at the top, and I asked a couple of people to seed it. It worked out strangely, of course, and I’ll post the results later.
- I plan to take the type writer on (short) hiking trips. I find that being in an unfamiliar setting helps, and the lack of internet access on a typewriter prevents distraction. I say short trips, because the damned thing weighs a lot.
