Typewritten poetry by Tyler Knott Gregson

Tyler Knott Gregson's poetry was introduced to me for the first time in Richard Polt's The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century. Gregson, a photographer based in Montana, built his online presence by sharing typewritten poems on social media.

The majority of the poems in the poetry collection, Chasers of the Light, which is the first of his works I had the opportunity to read, deal with love.

Gregson describes his first encounter with a typewriter in the book's introduction as follows:

“The story could begin in a few different places; there’s the day I wrote my first poem when I was twelve years old or the day I started writing a daily haiku. But I’m going to begin with the day I bought my first typewriter in an antique store in Helena, Montana.

I remember the way the typewriter smelled, like dust and dried ink. I remember the keys and how they stuck when I first tested them. I remember the Remington logo fading on the front. Mostly, I remember how there was still enough ink left in the original ribbon to type the very first poem in the typewriter series, the first poem in this book. I typed it in the store, standing up near the entrance, with a page from a broken book I was buying for $2.00. I typed without thinking, without planning, and without the ability to revise anything.

I fell in love.”

And here’s that poem:

I also love how the author writes on various paper textures, scraps, receipts, old books, and even does blackout poetry. I suppose this is what typewriters do to you: they encourage creativity, playing with words, and simply writing more.