“I want a life measured
in the places I haven’t gone,
short sleeps on long flights,
strange voices teaching me
new words to describe
the dawn.”

— Tyler Knott Gregson, Wildly into the Dark

Tyler Knott Gregson is beloved for his typewriter series of poems scattered meaningfully upon found scraps of paper, makeshift canvases for simple, profound pieces of introspection.  He writes of courage and love and wanderlust, and the picture he paints with his words becomes a representation of a life lived wholly, fearless of the dark places and brilliant in the light.  Wildly into the Dark is his third outing in the publishing world – Gregson regularly shares his work on social media – and within the latest collection he goes on a journey into territory deeper still, sharing poetry and poetic wonderings as well as what the book’s subtitle charmingly calls, “rattlings of a curious mind.”

“There are no wrong answers here, no rules beyond this: be kind to everyone and everything, and give yourself away.”

— Tyler Knott Gregson, Wildly into the Dark

Gregson is a master of romantic language in the traditional sense; he writes beautifully of nature, experience, truth, and vulnerability.  While his subject ranges from love to philosophy with dips too into the political realm, all of his poems maintain a lyricism and whimsy that makes the reader feel as though a journey through the book is an open-hearted conversation with the author himself.  He writes regularly on the insightful depths of our relationships, from the vulnerability and peace of intimacy to the burden of our imperfect struggles, but there are in particular many moments in this collection where the narrative of his poems becomes more subjective; a piece addressing missed opportunities could become an apology to oneself; uplifting words to a lover can become a love letter to spirit, a shift to a conversation with one’s own courageous nature.  In this and many other ways, Wildly into the Dark harbors secret compartments for readers to discover hidden messages left by their own curious, wandering hearts.

“Poetry is taking an ache and making it sing,” Gregson writes in one piece, and the lines are true for every poem within the book.  A gift of compassion and comfort to his readers, the poems in Wildly into the Dark encourage the reader to persevere and to thrive.  One gets the sense that through his poems Gregson is wishing for his listener the courage to trust love, choose love, and know love in the same way that the beauty of the world has inspired him to live.

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Wildly into the Dark publishes on March 28, and in anticipation of the release $1 from every pre-order is being donated to To Write Love on Her Arms, the wonderful charity devoted to providing hope for those overcoming struggles with depression, addiction, self-harm, and suicide.  For details on pre-ordering visit tylerknott.com/wildly

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Tyler Knott Gregson wrote the first poem in his popular typewriter series without ever knowing there would be a typewriter series. After stumbling across an old Remington typewriter in a used bookshop, he took a page from the $2 book he was purchasing and, without ceremony (without even taking a seat), he typed out a poem. What followed was a love affair between a poet and an unchangeable medium. Gregson, a born romantic and self-proclaimed “chaser of the light”, fell in love with the honesty of writing poetry on a typewriter, the solidity of the aesthetic and its inability to be edited. He first shared his poems online to viral acclaim, and now a selection of them are available in his book, Chasers of the Light. The book comprises poems Gregson has typed on found scraps of papers as well as poetry created with the blackout method (book pages blacked out to leave only stray words that together form a poem), and traditionally printed poems accompanying some of his original photography. What looks to be a slight book is full to bursting with the hallmarks of Gregson’s work: the courage of love and the curiosity of life told through the creativity of the artistic experience. It would be inaccurate to say that Gregson’s poems turn the unremarkable into the remarkable; rather, he has a way of uncovering the truth that these small, inconsequential things have been remarkable all along – it’s a matter of perspective, and perspective specifically shaped by hope, compassion, and bravery. His words tell brief stories that dig into the old-fashioned romanticism of life, often exploring the nature of being in love – defining, through poetry, the otherwise undefinable emotions – but also unraveling a universe of romantic notions, poems dreamed up by observations and philosophical meanderings; an example of that aspect is a poem accompanying a photo Gregson took of a long abandoned track for racehorses. In beautiful language and with touching courage, Gregson reminds us of the romanticism defined by looking for the big things in the small, looking for beauty in the unexpected; the journey of rediscovering the remarkable.

There’s a saying sometimes referenced in the lojong practice of Tibetan Buddhism: "Gain and victory to others, loss and defeat to myself." As I understand it, the phrase instructs us to open ourselves up to our defeats, to expose ourselves to our faults with compassion, and to also be free in sharing the joys of life with others. I was reminded of this saying while reading Chasers of the Light (no coincidence, I'm sure, as Gregson is a Buddhist himself). The tone in many of the poems is at once self-focused, dwelling with honestly and acceptance on the struggles of the author, and also worshipful of the external: a loved one or a budding blossom or an appreciation for something bigger than oneself. It's an interesting contrast, and one that takes the reader beyond the simplicity of even the smallest poems into a place of quiet wonderment. In this balance of the internal and the external, weighing discontent with compassion, Gregson strikes some of the most profound notes in a collection of poems that evoke consistent inspiration and lasting resonance.

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