Stained Napkins
Press
Poet and Writer Portfolio
About Me
Ahmed Elguindi also known as Stained Napkins is a New York City based poet. Best known for writing poetry on napkins, a quirk that stemmed from impulsive ideas that had to be noted when paper wasn’t always present. His poetry often tackles themes of heartache, inner reflection and various serendipitous moments he’s experienced. He’s been featured in the NYC Poetry Festival, Jazz Age Lawn Party and NY Coffee Festival writing personalized poems on his typewriter. If you’re lucky, you might be able to find his words on stickers throughout the New York City streets.
My Work
Her, 2021
Primary Sources, 2020
Sunflower, 2021
Petrichor, 2020
(Edward Hopper) Nighthawks, 2020
Where You’ve Been: A Poetry Anthology
Where You’ve Been brings together six extraordinary poets into one profound book. Stained Napkins, T.K. Mills, Holly Walker, Kyle S. Studstill, Savannah Camastro, and Christa Ferry are the group that make up this roster. Exploring themes of Place, Time, Dreams, Heaven & Hell, Fluidity and Ekphrasis, this anthology showcases their various styles and voices as poets. Each of them offers something new and different. From Kyle’s word art, T.K. 's short yet poignant anecdotes, Savannah’s gracefulness in diction, Christa’s heart wrenching laments or Holly’s soft yet memorable images. Bringing all these ideas and themes together, there’s bound to be something in this book you can relate to. Whether it be a dream you’ve had, a nostalgic time you’ve experienced, a piece of art you admire, or simply, a place you’ve been.
Other Works:
In Retrograde
In Retrograde was my first publication under Stained Napkins. A small collections of poems to provide readers with a taste of my style and subject matter. It would go on to sell over 100 copies.
Integrity is Everything was an attempt to branch out beyond the medium of the page. The idea was to blend spoken word poetry with lo-fi beats in order to offer the listener a new experience in poetry consumption. The EP highlighted themes of integrity and honesty not only to others but the self.
Integrity is Everything
EP
Publications:
Up Magazine, Persian Poet: A Woman Made of Fire, 2023
Coffee People Zine: Issue XII, 2021
Sonder Midwest: Issue III, 2020
The Barista Chronicles
Welcome to The Barista Chronicles, a newsletter about navigating life without a compass. If you thought this was going to be about my adventures at work as a barista, I’m here to tell you that it’s not. Unless of course something worthy of mentioning happens.
The Barista Chronicles started off as little videos I’d make at work trying cold brew and fixing my hair. Captioned with an exaggerated story about my longing and depression. After a while the videos became a bit predictable and there’s only so many faces I can make to express the joy cold brew brings into my life. However, I loved the name ‘The Barista Chronicles’ and didn’t want to let it go to waste.
So alas, here we are.
With this medium, I hope to explore ideas and concepts that I’m unable to explore with poetry or perhaps explore on a deeper level. I also hope to strengthen my writing abilities. Outside of poetry the only writing I really do is journaling and although I try to be artistic and make it flow to an outside reader, I often go back on that ideas as I feel journaling should be a safe space for any free form of writing. It doesn’t have to make sense to an outside audience.
That being said, I hope you enjoy the ride we are about to embark on and I appreciate you taking the time for joining me
The Poetry in the Streets
Stickers became a way to market Stained Napkins to a wider audience. Following in the footsteps of other street artists and street poets, I began sharing my words on the street and people started to notice.
These stickers were featured in Up Magazines ‘Infographic: Anatomy of a New York Mailbox’
Starting with New York, my stickers have found their way to Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston, Amsterdam, Zürich, and Kansas City.
Typewriter Poetry
On the spot poetry, personalized and crafted specially for each patron. What started off as a fun project on Sundays behind the MET eventually grew into an important aspect of the brand. The typewriter has become a huge part of my image and my work. Through the Poetry Society of New York, I would go on to type poems at events for AhA!, Angels Envy, Rag & Bone and Bloomberg.
I’ve also taken my typewriter to other festivals and events such as the NYC Poetry Festival, Jazz Age Lawn Party, and NY Coffee Festival
Poet-in-Residence
For National Poetry Month, I worked closely with the New York Public Library to host writing workshops and offer poems to many of their visitors. Participants of the workshop learned about the various poets of the confessionalist era from the 1950s-1970s. Poets such as Frank O’Hara, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and many others.
