The Poetry Bus Hits Manhattan, part 3: The Typing Explosion

The following post originally appeared on October 10, 2006:

So now you have probably caught up on the Typing Explosion (see this post here). Let me elaborate some more. If this is boring to any of you, my apologies, but I have to do it, for posterity.

The Typing Explosion explained itself to the crowd via a transparency projected on a screen. I had the time so I copied the rules down.

The Typing Explosion
TEU Local 898

Rules of Participation

1. Choose a TITLE from those provided in the card catalog or write your own using a blank note card and the typewriter above. (Each title is original and no title will be used twice).
2. Place $1 in canister (one dollar per poem, please).
3. Hand your title card to the first typist who is next to the card catalog.
4. Your title will head the page and your poem will be IN PROGRESS. IMPORTANT: PLEASE MOVE with your poem as it passes between the typists.
5. When the horns indicate your poem’s completion, proceed directly to the third typist.
6. After receiving is official documentation and you have signed for verification of receipt, your ORIGINAL poem of the Typing Explosion will be given to you to keep.
7. Begin at any time.

Rules of Conduct

1. Do not talk to Typists.
2. Do not touch Typists.
3. Please stand a minimum of one foot away from the Typists while the poem is in progress.
4. Do not use vulgar or otherwise offensive language near or around said typists.
5. Sorry, there is no money-back guarantee.
6. No biting.
7. No shoving.
8. No spitting.
9. No horseplay.
10. Participation is not mandatory.
11. Typists reserve the right to begin and end each poem as they see fit.
12. Typists are entitled to a designated UNION BREAK as signaled by the sound of the whistle.
13. If behavior is not in compliance with these codes of conduct, your poem will be deemed void and duly shredded.

Well, so of course I had to participate. For only a buck, why not? I perused the titles in the catalog and, while some were good, I came up with one better and/or more appropriate. The following poem is scanned in. Rather than typing it in here, I thought it would be better to give the visual, from the different type from the three typewriters, to the stamp used for verification and approval. Click on the image to enlarge.

Without further ado, here's the Typing Explosion's poem "Billy's Blog":

If you're having trouble reading this, click on the image to enlarge. Then, click again for the up-close effect.

If for some reason you can't see it, here's the text, without the x'ed out typos.



Reader Beware, F-Word Ahead:

Billy's Blog

read mostly by

street kids in Japan

and housewives in Canada.



billy is keeping track of his constituency

When he is hanging upside down in the mildewy basement

pretending he is Batman, and his wife screams down the dark stairs:



Dear So Long Sad Song . . .

Really what? Really WHO? Really WHY?

but and really when ?


It was once said,

"I don't believe in blogs, I just believe in me."

But now,

wouldn't you agree?


every fucking day i'm writing this thing.

are you getting this?

Snap your incissors at me,

all alone in the quavery glow

of Mountain Dew and run!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(To Be Continued.)