Have You Seen Them? Incognito Poet Staples Verses Around EC
mysterious writer leaves cryptic typewritten messages
If there’s one thing the pandemic has encouraged us to do, it’s walk around. A lot.
But all that walking led us here at Volume One, along with a few other locals, to discover a bizarre set of poems around downtown Eau Claire. We’ve dubbed the mastermind behind these strange poetic fragments the “Incognito Poet,” as their anonymous author leaves us puzzled. Who is this Incognito Poet? And what do their poems mean?
The first poem, spotted a few weeks back on the wooden fence of The Oxbow Hotel, 516 Galloway St. (across from Volume One & The Local Store), appears to be titled “Other Star Sailing,” and reads as follows:
before the beginning questions ask / what only patterned personas answer / body / mind / spirit vocation / whoever is here now lean into lack / doing what cannot be thought / thinking what cannot be done /inspiring as souly (sic) you are able.
The second poem, located on a wood railing near the East Grand Avenue footbridge, seems even more bizarre:
how to execute yr soul shine ??? / put to rest a lifestyle no longer / viabledissolve (sic) toxic relations / true creative love, an intuition / of feelings, flow is the actual / source to draw from // Remembering invested scholarship… / Expecting a test of heart… / as rested as you,ll (sic) be for now / surrounded by opportunity the / mystery you live calls for action! / “‘;,,,,,,,,.///you8 you’;
We have many questions, to say the least.
Both poems appear to be covered in tape to protect the serif typeface, seemingly written using a typewriter with a traditional-style font. The poems are then stapled repeatedly to wooden surfaces.
Who is the poet responsible for such unique creative expressions? What do they mean? And, perhaps most tantalizing of all, are there more poems to be discovered?
If you’ve seen another Incognito Poet poem, shoot us a message at editorial@volumeone.org.
