An Interview With a Typewriter Poet

I'm relatively a new fan of Tyler Knott Gregson's work, but that doesn't make me any less a fan. He's rekindled some kind of primal poetic urge in me I've long had dormant.

He seems to be mostly known for his "typewriter" series (as pictured above). He's also a photographer.

A little while ago, I sent him several questions. Tyler replied yesterday, and read on to see what his answers were to my questions:

UC: How/why did you get started doing typewriter poetry?

Tyler: I have always been writing, as long as I can remember, and I have always loved spilling out my words however I could possibly do so.  After writing a Daily Haiku on Love for over 3 years, I ended up buying an antique typewriter at a local antique store and just to break it in, I sat down and wrote an entire poem in about 2 minutes...no thinking it through, no proofreading, nothing.  Just sit and spill.  After the first, I was hooked and haven't slowed down since, 330 poems later.

UC: How have you felt about the reaction to it? Lykke Li is a fan I see!

Tyler: To be honest, any reaction at all blew me away.  I have never written for any other reason than to get the things I feel inside, out.  I write for me, and me alone, and the fact that anyone, anywhere even bothers to read it still blows my mind.  A few different "celebrities" have jumped on board with enjoying it and I just cannot make sense of it.  That said, it's so interesting to hear from and reach so many more people, and that reaction is clearly the source of it all.

UC: How long have you been writing poetry? Why did you start?

Tyler: I started because I had to.  I had too many words in too many places inside me and I needed a way to release some of that steam, that pressure that builds up.  I had to leak it out and poetry just always made sense.  I think the first fully formed poem I ever wrote was when I was 12 years old.  

UC: I see you are also a photographer! Do you approach photography similarly to poetry? 

Tyler: For me the two are intrinsically linked.  I think I've always seen the world as this perfect little miracle filled with so many beautiful little moments.  The tiny things, the simple seconds that I feel go unnoticed far too often.  In my poetry and my photography, I think I try to make tiny moments absolutely giant. Whether it's writing of a single second of time passing between two people, or capturing that in a still image, it's what I tend to go for.

UC: Who are your inspirations/influences?

Tyler: I just love to read.  I Love it.  I've always loved Walt Whitman, Neruda, T.S. Eliot, e.e. cummings, Brautigan, Millay.  SO many.  As for influence, I am not sure any of them have really influenced the way I write, as I think I write very differently from them, but I just love them and more than their writing style, their viewpoint on the world.

UC: What are you working on at the moment?

Tyler: Still going with the Haiku, Typewriter Series, Photography.  I own a photography company called Treehouse Photography and we fly all over the United States and world (when hired of course!) shooting weddings and I absolutely adore it.  We're always looking to go to new places and photograph new faces.  I'm also throwing around the idea of writing a screenplay for a film.  We'll see.

330 poems is QUITE A LOT. Thanks, Tyler! Check his work out here, one more time.