Beautiful, nomadic, a real journey through the pages. Inspiring to see the road less travelled when it comes to career.

I was eager to read about this fellow poet who traveled to cities far and wide with a glimmer of hope and a typewriter. He would set up a small table and chair along with his typewriter and wait for the people to come. When they did, they would request a poem about a particular topic. They would pay a denomination that they deemed appropriate. As time passed, the poet was asked to work at musical festivals, spiritual retreats, business conventions and wedding receptions. Throughout the book, he expressed the thought that he came upon all of this accidentally and never set out to be a poet. His travels and those he met during that time were compelling. Nonetheless, about 3/4 into the book, it began to drag for me. For this reader, the voice and the narrative of the book changed at that point and I was not as invested. Thank you to @netgalley for the free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. #netgalley #thepoetryofstrangers #bookstagrammer #booksandmrdarcy #goodreads #withhernosestuckinabook❤️📚

The Poetry Of Strangers by Brian Sonia-Wallace (6/30)

Rating 4.5 / 5 Stars

** Thank you to Netgalley, Harpercollins, and of course, Brian Sonia-Wallace, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, I have never read a book of poetry like this. I’m a huge fan of poetry and travel writing so to see them come together in a brilliant book like this, I am so happy.

Brain Sonia-Wallace relates a range of experiences with everyday human beings. By simply setting up a typewriter on a street, he finds strangers interested in poems for sale. Getting to know these people through his desires, this collection of essays opens the eyes to those with deep dreams and longings, love, heartbreak, and demons.

Brian takes a cross country journey with these essays. He becomes a storyteller, embracing the stories of everyday people and combining it with beautiful themes and geographical links. It is thought-provoking, moving, and truly an eye-opener to the everyday people building America and provides a beautiful view of the vast country we all tend to forget is that vast.

I highly recommend this collection if you want to enlighten yourself through a beautiful writing style and themes.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"Do you need a poem?" With this question, Brian Sonia-Wallace began his journey as the RENT Poet. Just "another unemployed millennial at the tail end of the financial crisis, looking for a purpose," he took a typewriter to a downtown Los Angeles street party and set up a folding chair and tray table with a sign: "POETRY STORE/ give me a topic/ I'll write you a poem/ pay me what you think it's worth."

When his first customer, a tough, tattooed, buzz-cut Chicana, softened before his eyes after reading his poem about her father, Sonia-Wallace was hooked. He "accidentally started a poetry business with a $20 garage sale typewriter and an impending sense of doom." Intending it as a performance art experiment slash practical joke, Sonia-Wallace proclaimed, "I'm going to pay my rent with poetry!" Since he was in despair and felt his life was over, why not do something stupid?

In The Poetry of Strangers, Sonia-Wallace shares how he not only paid his rent, but ended up with corporate jobs, Amtrak and Mall of America writer residencies, fundraisers, weddings and numerous other gigs. More interesting is that he'd never loved and doesn't consider his work poetry. It's about relationships, the "shrapnel interactions left behind, bits of other people" that left him less alone. While social connections were fraying, Sonia-Wallace traveled the country connecting with poetic empathy. "It was poetry that led [him] to discover a private America, an America where intimacy was possible, one person at a time."

STREET SENSE: This is an interesting one and I'm not entirely sure who to recommend it to. Not that anyone couldn't or wouldn't enjoy it, but it's an amorphous story. It's a memoir, but it's also about community, the state our country is in, our lack of expression, so many things. That is a positive and a negative, as it felt a little messy at times. Yet it's something of a messy story about messy life, and much of it was truly fascinating.

COVER NERD SAYS: I'm not sure what it is about this image that was unclear to me, but it feels off somehow. It's obvious the author is holding a typewriter, yet every time I look at it I think "Oh! That's a typewriter." Maybe because it's odd to see a typewriter in a scene such as that? Which is kind of the point. In any event, this completely fine cover didn't sit right with me. Maybe with the fonts it looks a bit...homemade? Maybe if it kept a faint blue sky instead of falling off into stark white? Maybe I'm just missing the message?

The Poetry of Strangers follows the adventures of Brian, who picks up a typewriter, travels the world, sets up a station, and listens to people as they share life stories. He then types a poem for them on the spot. Even though his ventures may seem lonely, he connects on a different level with those around him. Brian finds the world connects and feels through his poetry and time. What a beautiful way to share your talents with the world! I highly recommend this read! The world is full of good!

The Poetry of Strangers

What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter
by Brian Sonia-Wallace



HarperCollins Publishers
Harper Perennial
Biographies & Memoirs | History
Pub Date 30 Jun 2020


I am reviewing a copy of The Poetry of Strangers through HarperCollins and Netgalley:



Before he was an award wining Author and Poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace decided to set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that read Poetry Store. In doing so he found something that surprised him, all over America, people wanted poems. At first Brian was an Amateur Busker who asked countless strangers what they wanted a poem about, and to his surprised many of these people opened up to share their deepest longings, yearnings, love, and heartbreaks. Hundreds then thousands of people around the nation from every walk of life became converts.





The Poetry of Strangers is the story of Brian’s cross country journey, through a series of his heartfelt and thought provoking essays, chronicling the journey. In his travels Brian learned that people were not afraid of poetry, when it came to telling their stories.




The story of Brian’s Journey comes at a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, and shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places.



The Poetry of Strangers is a thought provoking idea. This book 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.



I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to be reminded just what a gift poetry can be.


I give The Poetry of Strangers five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

The Poetry of Strangers is full of lovely vignettes that whisk the reader away to the many places Brian Sonia-Wallace set up his typewriter and made connections. In particular I found the train ride and the mall exercise very interesting in their worlds and human connections, but he also portrays outdoor festivals and smaller writing events. I enjoyed the poetry inside and wished there had been even more of his poems included after we meet the individuals he connects with.

I also liked that Sonia-Wallace makes poetry accessible to the masses. He is upfront about not being too lofty or the best writer in the room, but more about making an honest connection and reflecting that moment back in the space of an index card. He is honest about where his privilege plays into his lifestyle, but also identifies as queer and shares some relationship stories that cross any barriers - we all know heartbreak.

I have already recommended this title for friends I know enjoy poetry as it's such a unique perspective about it and the places he travels to are all written about very lyrically.

Poet Brian Sonia-Wallace is part performance artist and part therapist, listening to people he encounters on trains, in the Mall of America, at an epic EDM festival, or in the beauty department of a department store. Since 2012, he has written poems for strangers in thirteen states and three countries, and he finds ways to connect with everyone, often eliciting tears from grateful recipients of his poems. As he travels, he reflects on how the individual people he meets fit into the larger American narrative, taking the pulse of this changing nation, from evangelicals to trans people to Wiccans, always with an open heart and mind.
This is a humble man's reflections on his unique perspective. "Who is the appropriate person to tell what story?" he wonders. Sonia-Wallace gives not only an ear but also a voice to people who don't often feel heard. He asserts, "This vision is about writing as connection -- poetry as a service industry ... Poetry is the shortest distance between feeling and expression."
In his role as witness and reporter, Sonia-Wallace is compassionate and informative, but I wish he had been more reflective about how he was able to open his heart day after day in city after city. The book read more like a travelogue than an autobiography. He is often almost painfully honest, but I think his book does not live up to to its subtitle: "What I Learned Traveling American with a Typewriter." Sonia-Wallace met fascinating people, who keep framed copies of his street poems on their walls and often stay in touch with him for years. This is a testament to the value of his work. He asserts, "Perhaps it is the duty we have as citizens of the world. To show up for strangers until they are not strangers anymore."