My Typewriter Has A Soulmate

Originally Posted: December 22nd, 2015
Updated: May 21st, 2020

It’s a winter solstice miracle. I’m typing, again!

Where to begin? I suppose first with a thank you. Thank you for putting up with the mess that this website has become. And thank you to several amazing individuals who have reminded me throughout the year to see the good in what Typewriter Poetry was, is, can continue to be. Puhon! (One day!)

Back to the typewriter. We found each other on the opposite side of the world. It’s pastel slate blue (if I had to guess, Pantone Milky Blue), has Danish keys (Å, Æ, Ø…like the laptop I’m borrowing), and was made in Nagoya, Japan.

Introducing…the Brother de Luxe.

Forget what you’ve heard: finding a soulmate is nothing like winning the lottery or striking oil. It’s like traveling for months, your fingers itching for a machine, but nothing worth the pain of being mismatched, and you not actively searching yet keeping an eye out, then suddenly in the remote wilderness of Sweden your new friend pulls out a beautiful machine, and oh look, it’s got a new ribbon, it’s got functioning keys, it reminds you of what you’ve left behind and all the while has its own distinct aura–

Ahem. I am happy, blessed, grateful, enthused. Cold, too. But soaring.

It’s been months since I last typed on my own typewriter. I haven’t discovered a way to reconcile “Free Poetry”‘s ineffable idealisms with unrelenting reality and so…I keep the case shut. I stop using my typewriter. It has been resting ever since.

But–oh! What a strange full circle it has been. From giving away Free Poetry in public, to privately writing in an isolated cabin in the woods…life is not without its ironies. I have made it to the other end of the spectrum (what end?), the other end of the world, to the typewriter of my typewriter’s dreams.

Our collision is cause for celebration!

This year has been filled with adventures. I’ve met incredible human beings, lived in unforgettable places. After my last update, I left Philly to find work back home on the West Coast. Reconnected with family. Had a brilliant time working for a wonderful company (.XYZ). Took off to the east coast to stay with a close friend, then flew to the Philippines on a ridiculously cheap airplane ticket (thank you, Flight Deals).  Reconnected with different family, learned Tagalog and Bisaya, ate delicious meals made by my relatives while we traveled around Davao together. Went to Paris to live in a bookstore. Experienced COP-21 and all the amazing people it brought to the city.

Now I find myself in the remote forests of Sweden, living by myself in a writer’s cabin, surviving the winter thanks to the generosity of new friends.

The sun sets early and rises late. At night, your neuroses come out to play. There is no Wi-Fi, no television, no computer, and only a handful of books–half of which are in English.

There is absolutely nothing to distract you from writing. And so, I’ve made my own.

This post was typed on a typewriter, a phone, a laptop. Handwritten, too. I walked a mile to upload it. I’d include more pictures, but the Wi-Fi is spotty. Either way, hello & goodbye! I will be quietly celebrating this Christmas by exploring the forests and trying not to get lost. Wherever you are in the world, have a wonderful holiday season. Life is good and you are here.

(Santa, if you’re reading this: bring paper. And black Pilot G-2 07 pens, too!)