Short Order Poems

Short Order Poems are playful, spiritual and wistful. The 64 poems in this collection were crafted on a Remington 5 vintage typewriter at art events on the island of Kauai, where Pam Woolway, known as The Short Order Poet, composes spontaneous verse on an iconic four-by-six inch waitress guest check. The customer offers a word or phrase as the title of the poem. Once the poem is handed to the customer, they read it aloud. For Pam, this is the most satisfying part of the collaborative project, hearing a new born poem spoken for the first time. The poem customer then receives the green guest copy and Pam keeps the yellow kitchen copy. Samples of word prompts received include: Caterpillar, Open, Wanderlust, Found and Pumpernickel. Back in her studio, she plays with the words further by making metal and canvas overlays related to the images in the poem.