When I was in college a good friend of mine wrote me a beautiful poem when I was going through a challenging time. It was both moving and encouraging. Last summer, when I was equally going through a rough patch, I reread the poem. It built me up again, just as it did when I was 18.

In my spare time, I set the poem in Caslon type – or so I thought. However, the type case I chose was filled with a mix of both Caslon and a Baskerville type. When I pulled the first print, I was horrified to see the mix of type. I set out to redo it by pulling out all the incorrect letters. It took FOREVER. Above is a photo of my hands holding only a fraction of the letters that are wrong.

The poem is relatively long, but has some unique elements that really stick out, especially in the last stanza.

I used little brackets and had fun spacing the letters based on the original way the poem was written.

Letterpress Poetry This Girl | Off the Beaten Press

When I printed the poem for the first time, it didn't come out as expected. But the second time was a whole different story.

The text is printed in a grey ink on 8x10 inch paper.

After I got home from printing, I immediately framed one for myself and have a small stack of extras. I sent a copy to my friend that wrote it earlier this year (when some of the type was still off) and plan on sending him a few more copies.

I don't plan on selling these but if any of the words speak to you as they spoke to me, I would be happy to send you one.

Letterpress Poetry: This Girl

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