The Poetry of Strangers

What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter

By: Brian Sonia-Wallace

Narrated by: Graham Halstead

It might surprise you who’s a fan of poetry — when it meets them where they are.

Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Around the nation, Brian’s poetry crusade drew countless converts from all walks of life.

In The Poetry of Strangers, Brian tells the story of his cross-country journey in a series of heartfelt and insightful essays. From Minnesota to Tennessee, California to North Dakota, Brian discovered that people aren’t so afraid of poetry when it’s telling their stories. In “dying” towns flourish vibrant artistic spirits and fascinating American characters who often pass under the radar, from the Mall of America’s mall walkers to retirees on Amtrak to self-proclaimed witches in Salem.

In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian’s journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places. Conventional wisdom says Americans don’t want to talk to each other, but according to this poet-for-hire, everyone is just dying to be heard.

Thought-provoking, moving, and eye-opening, The Poetry of Strangers is an unforgettable portrait of America told through the hidden longings of one person at a time, by one of our most important voices today. The fault lines and conflicts which divide us fall away when we remember to look, in every stranger, for poetry.

Sonia-Wallace’s talent and story

I did not dislike anything. I have taken a course with Brian and I had no idea he how wonderful his story is and how beautifully he writes.

A must listen to for poetry lovers.

This re ignited my love of poetry and inspired me to start my own. Absolutely love the story.

One of the best collections of human experience.

This is a book for the ages. A great example of TODAY for all human kind. Adventure, life, places, people and things all experienced from someone who has been there--done that--and written it down in poetry. All expressed through the tick-tack of the typewriter and all that machine means to our race. I loved this book and it's delivery from the narrator.