Short Version
We discovered that writing Free Haiku for people brings them joy. Turns out, most folks are generally willing to share a small fact about themselves and wait 30-90 seconds for a complete stranger to capture the moment with a haiku. Upon receipt, they laugh, cry, hug us, tell their friends to come over, tattoo their haiku on their bodies (yes, we have like six so far), frame it, put it on their wall/mirror/fridge/bedstand, and the list goes on.
Long Version
We’re hired to perform with typewriters at events, which is where humans tend to gather for a purpose, whatever it may be. We aren’t stopping there, though. We’re on a mission now to write haiku for everyone. Maybe it’s ambitious, maybe it’s not. We’ll find out. Either way, there’s a lot of ways to get people their haiku and we’re going to have fun finding creative ways to do it.
It’s like we found an infinite source of happiness. A dear friend says “It’s the simplest most amazing thing you’ve never heard of. If you’re lucky enough to have experienced Free Haiku, it’s the simplest most amazing thing you’ve already told your friends about.”
Haikuists started when Erick and Daniel were working on another project interviewing entrepreneurs in 2012. Instead of reaching out cold, they set up a Free Haiku Stand on a street corner in Brooklyn. Curious people would stop by and ask for a Free Haiku. Erick would write the haiku and while the guest was stuck standing there waiting and Dan would ask if he/she was an entrepreneur. Turns out there are a lot of cool people in Brookyn willing to share their stories. Someone named Jeff Krasno ran by one day and asked us to come write Free Haiku for yogis at his festival, Wanderlust. There, someone booked us for another event, and so on. Ten years later, we have ninety poets performing in sixteen cities and average between 200 – 300 events in per year. More to come!
