Inprint Poetry Buskers

The Inprint Poetry Buskers bring the joy of poetry to festivals and special events throughout the city.

56. IMG_5803-e1401839056897-640x502The Inprint Poetry Buskers spread the joy of poetry by writing poems on demand at festivals and special events throughout the Houston area. The group is made up of mostly graduate students and alumni from the nationally renowned University of Houston Creative Writing Program. These talented poets, using typewriters and their skill and wits, tap into the muse of immediate inspiration and write poems for people based on themes given to them on the spot. The poems are free of charge and people love taking their own poem home. Getting a poem written specifically for you is an invaluable experience, and for hundreds of Houstonians, the Inprint Poetry Busker are making poetry feel like a relevant and accessible experience.

Over the past year, the Inprint Poetry Buskers have written poetry for people of all ages at  Theater District Open House, MenilFest, Sunday Streets and other events. Scroll below for details on where they will be next.

Inprint Poetry Busking Events

Oct
16

Inprint Poetry Buskers at Nature Discovery Center Pumpkin Patch Fall Festival

Jul
25

Inprint Poetry Busker at CAMH Virtual Summer Family Day

Poem by an Inprint Poetry Busker

Inprint Poetry Busker Conor Bracken (quoted below), an MFA alum of the UH Creative Writing Program, wrote this poem on the spot when he was given the theme “style” at a busking event.

Style

by Conor Bracken

It’s invisible

When you got it it’s got you

a tender smile in its velvet jaws.

You wear it when you want

to not be you but “You!”

It’s the dress that you take off at night

to remember how it feels

to be seen.

“Where I feel like I make the biggest impact in Houston is behind a typewriter, writing poems on demand. It’s really gratifying to see how happy people are to have a poem. It’s there that reader and poet are together directly …. all the barriers are broken down. Poetry becomes an act: not some abstruse art practiced by fusty hermits in garrets far away, but happening right there, as an act between two people.”

Bring the Inprint Poetry Buskers to your community

Last year the Inprint Poetry Buskers wrote poems on demand at more than 15 festivals and special events around Houston. Would you like to bring the Inprint Poetry Buskers to a festival or other public event? Contact krupa@inprinthouston.org with the date, time, and description of your event.