A $10 poem about Change

If you have followed my blog since the beginning you will recognize my guest today.

Zach Houston is the creator of a performance/literature/business/art piece informally referred to as The Poem Store, a project that consists of selling spontaneous free verse composed on a manual typewriter at public and private events.

I first ran into Zach back in 2010 when my then three year old daughter became mesmerized by the fascinating man atop a milk crate typing furiously on an old style typewriter. At the time Humility was the Bliss Habit of the week and I requested a $5 poem on the topic. Click here to see that poem.

A year later when Creativity was on our agenda I happened into Zach again. See my $12 poem on Creativity here.

And now nearly two years later I found Zach, with more signage than in previous years and a continuous stream of patrons. Instead of a milk crate he perched on a small chair. Beyond these smallish changes he and the typewriter seem completely unchanged. As I type this, I wish I had asked more questions but because I had already requested a $10 poem on the topic of Change I didn’t want to interrupt the mental wizardry before me.

As before he took a small wrinkled scrap of paper, inserted it in his manual typewriter and moments later my poem was in my hand.

I love that every time I happen upon him he has something thought provoking to share and I leave delighted by the serendipity of the universe. This time out, I’m tickled to consider myself an “artist of risk” and look forward to my next chance encounter.

Thank you Zach. It is always a pleasure.

Zach pretends he has a web presence here http://zachhouston.com/ 😉 and is occasionally available via twitter @poemstore. He is definitely more reachable by email: poems@zachhouston.com and outside the Ferry Building in San Francisco on Saturday mornings.