Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Vitiello.
Hi Chris, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
People turn out to love poems whether or not they know it! The Poetry Fox started ten years and 28,000 poems ago when a relative gave me a fox mascot outfit as a joke gift. I wore it and wrote poems on-demand on a typewriter at an event at an artist collective in Durham that I was a part of. And then people started asking me to come to their events to write, and the bookings got enough momentum that I took the Poetry Fox to a more professional level. Although I have an MFA in creative writing and three books, I’ve found the poetry world pretty insular and sometimes out-of-touch. Writing poems on the spot for people on the street or at an event—be it a wedding reception, corporate meeting, school festival, or private party—is more about the connection that the poem makes with who I’m writing for. It’s a moment of very sincere exchange, which a lot of people seem fairly deprived of in the realm of public speech and discourse. A poem cut through all of that. And a giant fox suit turns out, somehow, to help!
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?
Other than the physical struggle of wearing a fur bodysuit in North Carolina summers (which is very real!), the Poetry Fox has developed very slowly and happily. As I’ve written at more events, and added more services, products, and partnerships, I’ve always asked myself “Are you still writing your poems?” If the answer is “no” to any degree, I don’t do that thing. It means that I’m moving more slowly toward the goal of making the Poetry Fox my one & only income, but I think it’s the right way for a creative entrepreneur to work. I’m asked regularly if I ever get writer’s block writing so many poems so fast and, on the spot, —I simply don’t. But that’s because an on-demand poem is made from my interaction with someone much more than it’s made of my own ideas. I like people and I like connecting with people. Much more than my business goals, that’s why I do this.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a poet and writer, and I’m more of a generalist than a specialist. I’ve written a lot of art criticism and was one of the inaugural winners of the Rabkin Prize for Arts Journalism for that body of work. But I’ve also written case statements for capital campaigns, pharmaceutical brochures, reading passages and multiple-choice questions for standardized tests, press releases for an academic library, and long-form magazine features. All of this resonates with Poetry Fox in that it’s all writing that’s focused on a certain use case for a known reader or client. I’m very proud of being able to write a lot of quality content really fast toward that end. Not many people can do that, nor can they switch between all these kinds of writing so instantly. I think that writers too often hold up style and voice-over impact and relevance.
How do you think about luck?
One cannot know all the luck they’ve had! I was lucky to have two readers for parents—people who are curious about knowing lots of different things. I’ve been lucky to find communities of writers and artists at every stop along the way and to have so many of those great, deep conversations about the craft of writing. I’ve been lucky to have been given opportunities to come into a lot of unlikely situations to write poems for people in a fox suit. I can’t express how grateful I am to get to write for so many different people and in so many different circumstances. Or to get to write things that mean something to people. I’ve felt lucky and grateful after every single Poetry Fox poem so far, which sounds super cheesy, but it’s true. Most of all, I feel very lucky to have found what I am supposed to be doing with my life and that I often get to do it.
Pricing:
- Bookings vary and start at $225/hour
- Poem commissions start at $50
- Various Fox merch ranges from $2 buttons to $5 reassuring words & dark thoughts to (coming soon) greeting cards and more
- Creative/product partnerships: let’s talk!
- Workshops/creative seminars: let’s talk!
Contact Info:
- Email: chrisvitiello@gmail.com
- Website: www.poetryfox.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/thepoetryfox
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/poetryfox
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/thepoetryfox
Image Credits:
J Caldwell
Caroline Cockrell
Lissa Gotwals
Alex Maness
