Linda Vaitkus types a poem at Uncle Sam Plaza on July 14.
The advance publicity called the poetry event in Arlington Center inspired by the movies a “slam,” but it was more of a tap, tap, tap — the sound of last-century manual typewriters.
At a slam, poets belt out the words propelled by competition. At Uncle Sam Plaza on July 14 — and continuing July 21 — no belters or competitors held forth beneath the statue of Uncle Sam.
On the breezy, sunny Saturday, town Poet Laureate Cathie Desjardins was pecking away on a Remington a poem just dictated to her by a man in a wheelchair, Bobby Pagliuca. He could not get close enough to one of the tables where eight typewriters awaited anyone happening by with some written words to share. The poem he told Desjardins was about the Capitol, when it was just one large theater. Remember that?
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As she typed, people approached to ask what was going on. At the site alongside the Minuteman Bikeway, two who appeared to be from India cycled up. Cathie asked them about Bollywood, and they sat down to record their words.
Nearby, Linda Vaitkus, a volunteer from the Arlington International Film Festival, one of the creators of the poetry-at-the movies, helped hang finished poems, as if they were diapers on a clothesline. Pages flapped in a sudden breeze, and she noted, with a chuckle: “We don’t want poems blowin’ in the wind.”
Or maybe you do. Can’t the very air be inspiration?
Making connections between town business, culture
With words hanging out to dry, a microphone appeared, and the plaza became a stage for readers.
One of them is Amanda Freedman, a Tufts student and event volunteer, who was wearing a white T-shirt with these letters: “Love is a terrible driver, but a great navigator!” The quote is from “When Love Arrives” by poets Sarah and Phil Kay.
Freedman read “Popcorn Shuffle,” her tribute to the movies.
As she read, J. Alberto Guzman, cofounder of the film festival, buzzed about with his ever-present camera slung around his neck. He stopped long enough to put the events on two Saturdays near the town visitors’ center in context: They aim to help promote connections between town business and culture. That includes the town’s cultural district, of which Uncle Sam Plaza is a part.
Across Mystic Street, at Whittemore Park, the Aeronaut Brewing Co. was getting ready for its second beer garden. The first, July 7, drew more than 1,000 people. The crowd for the second was similar.
On a midday summer Saturday, what could be wrong? Unless you felt like being a curmudgeon, nothing was.
Next up, those happening by heard the reading of a “story.” Author Tom Furrier, who listened, declined to call it a poem. The longtime owner of Cambridge Typewriter in East Arlington had written about a movie he saw in 1973 in his hometown of Wakefield.
A film about his retro Mass. Ave. shop graced last October’s film festival. We chatted. He told how Globe reporter Billy Baker, after writing a feature last August about the region’s last typewriter repairman, arranged to have a slew of his old machines taken to the new Globe digs on State Street. Reporters, whose current keyboards are eerily quiet, even on deadline, missed the old staccato.
Vaitkus read “My Moment,” her words about sharing poems with random strangers, even on the bikeway. This line stood out: “… creativity is a conduit for peace.”
The Indian cyclists, Srijani and Radkika, read their “Bombay Dreams” — referring to a “creepy uncle waiting to force-feed you until your stomach hurts/ Did you forget this was a movie?”
‘Snow White’ and donated popcorn
When it was the laureate’s turn, Desjardins first asked what we recalled about Disney’s “Snow White.” One answer was the Witch. She read her poem, and guess which character it was about? Her stark image told you: “Her cheekbones angled like wings ….”
It was not all imagery July 14 at Uncle Sam Plaza. There were business connections, as Guzman suggested.
Those attending could put their names in for a drawing to win two film-festival passes and $25 gift certificates for Not Your Average Joe’s and La Victoria Taqueria.
Caffe Nero served up cookies, and Guzman handed out tall containers of popcorn, perhaps odd to see in noon sunlight. The popcorn came from the Venue, the movie theater in Lexington. A gargantuan black plastic bag of the stuff relaxed on the floor of the visitors’ center — ready for July 21.
Will you be there with your movie memories?
2018 Arlington International Film Festival information
This news feature was published Wednesday, July 18, 2018.
