Imagine you see a person sitting behind a typewriter at your cousin’s wedding and approach in curiosity. The person asks for a prompt and a few minutes later, you walk away with a freshly typed poem to keep forever.
Ars Poetica can make that scene happen. Created in 2019, this poetry-oriented company has poets near most big cities like New York, Montreal, Paris and Johannesburg. They offer services like on-demand haiku typing, workshops and TED Talk-style presentations about creativity and poetry and calligraphy – to name only a few.
Bookings can go from $175 an hour to higher depending on what experience you want. They have done weddings, company workshops and pop-ups in New York’s parks.
LA Marks created Ars Poetica after realizing in order to create a mark, she’d have to do it herself. After working with straight white men she wanted to work with a more diverse group to help achieve her goals.
“My primary original goal was to free my work from being owned or dominated by white men,” Marks said. “And to make my work connect more with positive societal impact, particularly in social and environmental justice.”
Since the start, her goals have changed and she strives to create an impactful group of poets by trying to set a new norm for accountability and care for the environment. Marks hopes to eventually plant a tree for every poem written, forming a connection between writing a poem and healing the planet.
“I wanted my work to directly correspond to a positive impact on the world around us,” Marks said. “Not just destroying the ‘starving artist’ trope for the sake of it. There are many writers and creators out there with more raw talent than I have – but in being the creative and strategic bridge between entrepreneurship, activism, and art.”
Marks has assembled a team of poets from around the world. Some poets have been there with Marks since before the company started, others were recruited at events and others auditioned. Although there are over 40 poets, they all go through training to learn the special styles of engaging, writing and meeting every guest where they are at.
“I love my poets and would do anything for them,” Marks said. “Including almost go broke on a few occasions in order to keep paying them and keep us afloat in rough times like the pandemic.”
Deena Odelle Hyatt, one of the original poets, was friends with Marks before Ars Poetica was created. After writing poems for a one-time event together, they went their separate ways but Marks asked Hyatt to write for a yoga event and the rest is history.
“I was a bit nervous because as much as I loved seeing her do this amazing on-the-spot poetry,” Hyatt said. “It was a particular combination of introversion and extraversion I wasn’t sure I could do under pressure. However, she convinced and trained me and eight years later I’m still writing on-the-spot poems for strangers. I can thank her also for re-igniting the poet in me.”
A central characteristic of Ars Poetica is the skill of writing a poem with only a couple of minutes and a prompt. The poets say this takes practice but the key is to listen and find your own strategy to complete the task.
“For me, often something hits me about what they say and I go with it,” Hyatt said. “Sometimes I even get an image. Oftentimes it comes as I’m typing. Sometimes I have an idea of where the poem ends but sometimes I only have the first line and the poem decides as I type.”
She finds this to be a “flow state” and said to write, she must get out of the way and allow the poem to develop with the reaction of the stranger in front of her. She finds this a remarkable feat but loves meeting new people and entering bubbles she normally wouldn’t.
To Anthony McPherson, the director of talent and training at Ars Poetica, poetry could be more popular. He thinks writing more pro-capitalism poems could bring more attention to the art. He knows we are partaking in poetry more than we think.
“Poetry could become more popular if we were to inform the public of the many ways they sprinkle bits of poetry throughout their everyday lives,” McPherson said. “Even sliding into someone’s DMs entails a bit of poetry.”
According to a June 2018 report by NPR, a collaboration survey with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Census Bureau showed that 11.7% of the population reads poetry. That number is an increase from the steady decline in recent years. Many factors could go into this increase, but social media is playing a huge part.
Ars Poetica uses the social media platform Tik Tok to draw the younger generation into the poetry world. Recently, a video of one of the poets writing a poem about a couple’s love story went viral and brought attention to the art.
Whether it’s a wedding or conference, Marks thinks poetry is for everyone and can connect people and create empathy through an artistic form of entertainment.
“Bringing the poetic process into events is a great way to allow people to connect deeper,” Hyatt added. “Having poetry there creates a unique space for conversation and also exposes how fun it can be to witness the poetic process.”
Along with the poetic process, Marks finds poetry can be healing. She believes it will heal you, our society and, most importantly, our ecosystem. To Hyatt, poetry can be a channel that allows feelings to come through. She thinks it helps us face our emotions.
“Poetry reveals soul-level truths,” Hyatt said. “It can be both light and dark. It can make you smile or even laugh, make you cry, make you think, make you feel.”
GROW WITH SARAH GRACE 
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