The sound of typing is one reason to own a vintage manual typewriter — alas, there are only three reasons, and none of them are ease or speed. In addition to sound, there is the sheer physical pleasure of typing; it feels just as good as it sounds, the muscles in your hands control the volume and cadence of the aural assault so that the room echoes with the staccato beat of your synapses.

Each letter I type releases a thunderous CLICK and then another and it’s a CLACK. I’ve become addicted to the sound. I can’t sleep. I’m up all night exercising my new found celestial harp

where they do things like writing live poetry on typewriters at weddings

Kro also works with the Glass Keys Collective, a self-described “lackadaisical consortium of typewriter poets” that works together as a “loose conglomerate.”

organization of Chicago typewriter poets, Poems While You Wait, has been around since 2011. The group’s mission is to provide patrons with “a magical, unexpected, unpretentious, and decontextualized encounter with poetry.”