Farmer's market poet deals in intimate secrets
SEATTLE - When you go to the Sunday market, it's hard to pass up on the flowers and fresh food. But how about - a poem, written just for you?
It's available at the Ballard Farmer's Market. Tucked among the fresh produce, the arts and crafts is a special poet, inside a small alcove - seated on an wooden box.
There is where you'll find Meredith Clark, pecking away on her manual typewriter - peddling poems.
"Ahhh - it's something I started in 2006," she says. "I think it's a way for people to process what's happening with them - through language."
People ask Meredith to write about everything.
"I had a poem about not sleeping ... a poem about ice cream ... a poem about my favorite park," she says.
Even the most intimate secrets.
A customer named David asks Meredith to write about his relationship with his girlfriend. And it's like a therapy session - he gives her every juicy detail.
Meredith scribbles it all down on the back of her notepad - then gets to work. Later she explains - it happens all the time.
"And they walk-up with such surety, and they say, 'I need a poem,' and 'I need a poem about this,' and oftentimes the topics are really close to people's hearts," she says.
Meredith writes resumes and publications for a living, but she writes poems for fun.
Every now and then - there's a typo.
"I usually leave it in," she says. "I feel like it's part of the charm."
But she never asks for money, and she'll always accept something in trade instead.
There's only one thing she refuses to write about.
"The only thing I won't write about is myself ... it just doesn't appeal."
But her words do appeal. Just ask anyone who commissions her work - especially David.
"Continent to continent - it catches us," he reads.
He says Meredith's poem expressed every emotion he couldn't.
"I think she offers a service to help people," he says.
And he can't wait to show it to his girlfriend.
It's available at the Ballard Farmer's Market. Tucked among the fresh produce, the arts and crafts is a special poet, inside a small alcove - seated on an wooden box.
There is where you'll find Meredith Clark, pecking away on her manual typewriter - peddling poems.
"Ahhh - it's something I started in 2006," she says. "I think it's a way for people to process what's happening with them - through language."
People ask Meredith to write about everything.
"I had a poem about not sleeping ... a poem about ice cream ... a poem about my favorite park," she says.
Even the most intimate secrets.
A customer named David asks Meredith to write about his relationship with his girlfriend. And it's like a therapy session - he gives her every juicy detail.
Meredith scribbles it all down on the back of her notepad - then gets to work. Later she explains - it happens all the time.
"And they walk-up with such surety, and they say, 'I need a poem,' and 'I need a poem about this,' and oftentimes the topics are really close to people's hearts," she says.
Meredith writes resumes and publications for a living, but she writes poems for fun.
Every now and then - there's a typo.
"I usually leave it in," she says. "I feel like it's part of the charm."
But she never asks for money, and she'll always accept something in trade instead.
There's only one thing she refuses to write about.
"The only thing I won't write about is myself ... it just doesn't appeal."
But her words do appeal. Just ask anyone who commissions her work - especially David.
"Continent to continent - it catches us," he reads.
He says Meredith's poem expressed every emotion he couldn't.
"I think she offers a service to help people," he says.
And he can't wait to show it to his girlfriend.