My boss at CNM went to Washington state this summer and came back with some great poetry stories. She met two street vendor poets with portable typewriters. You paid them what you wanted to. Then you gave them a subject prompt. You could wait or come back in ten minutes  and you would get a one-of-a-kind new poem along with a dramatic reading. She picked the subject of “native plants.” This was the poem she received:

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FlowerMy boss also happened upon a flower sculpture in Spokane that you can interact with and receive a poem from a database. It was called the Hello Flower Project.

In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, old cigarette machines have been converted into five-dollar art machines. My desk is full of these $5 art objects. Below is a picture of my favorite two pieces together:

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5-dollarBut I also found evidence of poetry vending machines made from old cigarette machines! Has anyone seen one of these in Vancouver or Philadelphia or in your town? If so, please send me a vending poem! I will return the favor with something versical and lamented!

In other interesting poetry news…

– A writer is creating found poems from David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. I hope this isn’t Plan B for when actually reading the book seems too hard.

Brian Sonia-Wallace– The Mall of America in Minnesota has a poet in residence named Brian Sonia-Wallace.

– Lisa Ann Markuson is writing haikus for all the U.S. Senators (#PoemsForSenators). To read them visit Twitter

– And My Poetic Side has produced "Behind Bars: 61 Poets Who Went To Jail."