Poems While You Wait

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The poets of Poems While You Wait have been subverting the cliché of the solitary writer toiling in obscurity by bringing themselves—and their typewriters—to public places throughout the city of Chicago and composing commissioned poetry on demand for strangers.

The process: the customer signs up for a poem by requesting a subject of their choosing, typically paying a $5 donation per poem fee, and then waiting 15-20 minutes while I create a custom-made, original, typewritten poem.

I’ve helped bring typewriter poetry to patrons all over the city and in the suburbs, ranging from the Adler Planetarium to the Garfield Park Conservatory to the Harold Washington Public Library to Dose Market to Randolph Street Market to all kind of neighborhood festivals, fundraisers, and events. 100% of proceeds go to support the non-profit literary publisher Rose Metal Press.

Check out my poems below or follow my poetry Instagram to read more.

I was featured in volume five of @quaranttimes. This is a poem I've been working on for a few months. Special shootout to my darling writer's group who helped me really nail this one down. Link in bio to read some more wonderful submissions from volu
A little one page piece of theatre that was accepted into a project <3 I'm so happy with how this turned out.
Feeling very lucky to have written for so many lovely humans this year. Cheers to more poetry in the year of clarity. ✨ . . . . . . #daniellelevsky #poetrycommunity #poetryisnotdead #writerscommunity #creativewriting #poets #poemswhileyouwait #happyh
"What about strings" . . This poem was written at the @radissonbluaquachicago during the November Poetry Happy Hour. All of these poems were written on command within 20 minutes. The requested topic was "dealer's choice". All topi
"Meeting Maya" . . This poem was written at the @radissonbluaquachicago during the November Poetry Happy Hour. All of these poems were written on command within 20 minutes. The requested topic was "I wish I met Maya Angelou". All
"In a direction" . . This poem was written at the @radissonbluaquachicago during the November Poetry Happy Hour. All of these poems were written on command within 20 minutes. The requested topic was "new direction (surviving a near dea
"Scarves!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The topics were given to
"Best Monday memory!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The topics we
"Nick likes the color black!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The t
"Creative!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The topics were given t
"Peace!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The topics were given to m
"Adventure time!" . . This poem was written at @morganmanufacturing during the @chicagoartisanmarket. I wrote this poem while in my clown persona @ellatheclown. All of the commissioned poems were written within 20 minutes. The topics were g
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