Writing Poems in the Street | Paul Wiegel | TEDxOshkosh

Many years and hundreds of poems written "on the street" reveal fascinating insight into the psyche of people in our communities. This talk will explore the lessons learned by a veteran "street poet" writing poems for other people.
Paul Wiegel has been writing on-demand poems as a "street writer" on his manual typewriter for passersby at art galleries, farmers' markets, and festivals for the past eight years. In that time, he has written over 1,500 poems for people on subjects as diverse as doughnuts, reunions, micro-brewed beer, cottages, violins, and women’s flat track roller derby.
While he mostly writes for other people on the street, his own poetry has appeared both in print and online including The English Journal, Hummingbird, and Whale Road Review. He is a past winner of Irish Fest’s John Gahagan Poetry Prize, has presented at the Wisconsin Poetry Festival, Untitledtown Book Festival, Central Wisconsin Book Festival, and is yearly demonstrator at ArtStreet in Green Bay and Art Fair Off the Square in Madison. Paul has also been a contributing writer at Wisconsin Public Radio as part of their Wisconsin Life program. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@jillmelchoir3068]

That's my cousin! Awesome job, Paul.

[@michaelstandke1737]

Amazing speech! Had him for English in high school. Great job Mr. Wiegel!

[@arithedragon6198]

WEIGEL oh my god! He was one of my Teachers when I was in High School! I love this!

[@AaronJGranados]

A truly inspiring Wiegly motivation

[@michaelstandke1737]

Aaron Granados lol

[@emilyfritts825]

WOOO GO MR WIEGEL!!

[@dianthas3498]

You write and present beautifully..Thank you.

[@PoetlaureateNFDL]

This is excellent 🎉

[@chrys77cross]

Just starting to get into poetry as a 32 year old. The most poignant point that stuck out to me was that poetry brings clarity, not confusion. I think this was my issue with poetry in highschool: I tried to write "deep" but my poems just came across confusing to people I shared them with and I got discouraged. Let's try this again a decade later...

[@Jack-yi5ud]

Best video ever

[@bigboiwakanda2639]

Yo I just got him to sign my tshirt I’m in shock