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Art in the Park with Poems While You Wait

Join poetry collective Poems While You Wait for an afternoon of art, poetry, and creativity as they set up shop across from the MCA at Seneca Park & Eli M. Schulman Playground.


closeup on several hands at several typewriters

Poems While You Wait

Photo: Poems While You Wait
Disembodied hands hover over a vintage typewriter

Poems While You Wait

Photo: Poems While You Wait

How to participate

  1. Visit the museum (free for Illinois residents on Tuesdays!) and find inspiration while exploring our newest exhibition, Chicago Comics.
  2. Cross to the park and make your own masterpiece using our drawing tools.
  3. Bring your drawing (or a topic idea) to the poets who will create a poem inspired by your creation on their vintage typewriters.
  4. Enjoy the new playground structures while you wait 10 minutes for your one-of-a-kind original poem!

About Poems While You Wait

Poems While You Wait is a collective of poets and their vintage typewriters who provide their patrons with an unexpected and decontextualized encounter with poetry. The process is simple: give us your name, give us the topic that you would like us to write a poem about (ranging from specific to abstract with as much information or as little as you'd like), and give us 10 minutes while you wander around. Upon your return you will have a custom-made, one-of-a-kind original poem to keep for yourself or to give as a gift.