My name is Tyler. I've been a poet since I was old enough to write. Poems are my way of both perceiving and reimagining the world, making something of this weird aliveness.

In 2020, while working on my MFA, I began a project in which I set up a vintage typewriter at a local farmers' market and wrote custom poems for people on a topic or theme of their choosing. I found this arrangement ideal, as it removes the barriers between author and reader—no editor to impress, no hoops to jump through; only the urgency of words and the shared emotions and experiences that imbue them. (To be sure, I still pursue traditional publishing, but it’s nice to have access to this much clearer path to connection with readers.)

Through this project, I've written hundreds of unique, spontaneous poems on countless topics, from the lighthearted to the profound. I've written poems for births, weddings, anniversaries, and funerals; poems about cherry blossoms and seagulls, dogs and newborns, love and grief. My aims have always been to put language to the beauty and bewilderment of being human and, above all, to connect with others.

My poems have helped people articulate difficult emotions and experiences, navigate complex life changes, come to terms with loss, find surprise in the ordinary, explore and discover curiosities, realize the illusion of separation, identify with nature, express love and appreciation for others, and much more. No topic is too small, nor too large.

My poems tend to be unrhymed free verse, though I’m happy to use rhyme, meter or other elements when requested, or if they will most successfully serve a poem’s theme or topic. Above all, I take this work seriously. Poetry is my life’s business, and even when a poem’s topic is light, I try to reach as deep as I can. A poem—even a humorous one—is hardly worth its weight if it can’t draw a little blood.

Poetry is among the most life-affirming of forces. Mary Oliver wrote, “…poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry. Yes, indeed.”

Yes, indeed.

What does being alive feel like to you? Where are you in this achingly strange, difficult, beautiful human journey? Tell me, and I’ll do my best to put precise language to your experience, offering perspective, solace, and inspiration on your path.