The typewriter is a Royal Quiet De Luxe (with Pica type) from 1949.

Because there are only so many months in the year (twelve, the last time Dr. Boli checked, although of course the number is bound to increase as more observations come in from the latest space telescopes), month-long celebrations have to share their months with other month-long celebrations that may wear clashing colors.

For the month of February, however, we have a pair of complementary rather than clashing celebrations. First, we have International Typewriter Appreciation Month, in which we celebrate the undiluted joy of writing on machines that never prompt us to upgrade our subscription or offer to “help me write.” Second, we have International Anything-but-Haiku Month, which gives the typewriters something to write by prescribing a poem a day in any form other than traditional haiku.

Now you know what to expect in February—at least in the abstract. In the concrete, not even Dr. Boli knows what to expect, since not one of the poems has been written yet.

But meanwhile, since it is not yet February, we are allowed to indulge in one traditional 5-7-5 haiku addressed to participants in two of the other month-long celebrations that share February with us:

Black History Month,
and you’re still stuck on haiku?
Read some Langston Hughes!

It is worth noting that, as we have come to expect, the computer transcribed this typewritten article without a single error. A typewriter is not only a distraction-free writing tool: it is also a reliable computer input device.