Today we’d like to introduce you to Zoe Branch.

Hi Zoe, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I left my career in journalism in 2020 to pursue being fully self-employed in New York City. Prior to that, I’d run my original typewriter poetry business, flora & phrase, as a side hustle for two years, and I wanted to give myself the chance to see if I could take more control over my creativity and harness it into my job.

By the spring of 2021, I had done just that: I started writing poems by donation in Central Park and was picked up by poetry agency Ars Poetica to write custom poems on demand at weddings, corporate events, and other social gatherings.

Since gaining some traction in the city — I’d previously lived in Washington state for six years — I’ve really been able to expand in a way that has felt incredibly generative. Right now, I am Ars Poetica’s Director of Sales as well as a poet on their roster, and continue to write poems for strangers in Central Park 3-4 days a week. I’ve written poetry on The Today Show and at Coachella, have been interviewed by Tik Tok on-demand artist Devon Rodriguez, and am hard at work rustling up increasingly exciting opportunities for myself and other typewriter poets with whom I work.

I also recently launched a poetry/comedy podcast with my friend Hannah Monsour! It’s called Poking Around and on it, we explore the overlap between writing poetry and jokes. Having done so much work in poetry, I’m feeling really inspired to begin broadening my creative scope into other genres as well.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s not been smooth and has been relatively unpredictable — I did not think, for example, that I was going to start having a sudden interest in comedy or podcasting. It’s interesting to again and again find yourself a beginner at something, and to quieten the part of the ego that urges you to give up.

The first year of being self-employed was the hardest. I’d just moved to New York City, the pandemic was at its height, and I constantly worried that I had made the wrong decision in leaving the journalism industry. I remember talking to a friend that winter and complaining that I’d been trying and working so hard, but my business and ideas were not having traction in the way that I needed them to. She said to me, “Most people only want to board a train that is about to leave the station.” The idea being: my train wasn’t ready to leave yet. So, only a few people were on board.

In the spring of 2021, I was starting to feel like throwing in the towel and finding a gap-measure job. That was right when things really started happening for me — I was patient enough, I suppose, that my train was finally on its way.

I had made myself a promise that I would give myself a year to figure out how to support myself as an artist. It took almost exactly that to find the formula, and I’m glad I gave myself that much time. Overnight successes never happen overnight.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I write poems on the spot for people on a vintage typewriter. The idea is that anyone can approach me — at an event I’m hired at, or when I’m busking in Central Park — and tell me anything at all. I will write them their own poem based on what they’ve told me in a couple of minutes.

The experience itself is really about connection between people: there are so few avenues for us to interface with strangers in a way that feels positive and generative. It’s taught me that people really want to speak to others, to open up and be vulnerable. And that we are all, at the end of the day, so similar: We long and grieve and love our children and pets and enjoy a sunny spring day. I feel that I specialize in holding that and reflecting it back to people through my poetry.

One of my missions in this work is to make poems feel more widely accessible. I think that a lot of people don’t like poetry because they were taught a version of it at school that made them feel stupid — like they didn’t understand something. A lot of poetry is very heady and academic — and I love that kind of thing, too. But I think it’s wonderful to write poems that are tailored to a specific person, in plain English, with the specific intent of making them feel something. If I can make someone feel through poetry, I am very proud of that.

Contact Info:

• Website: zoebranch.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe.branch/

Image Credits
Podcast photo: David Coons