Poetry on the Streets / Bringing People's Words into Public Spaces & Engaging Communities Through Stories. Founded by Melanie Pappadis Faranello in CT. - Poetry on the Streets: Everyone Has a Story, Everyone Has a Poem Inside

a collage of four photos showing people on the street writing poetry, one woman at a typewriter, one woman at a bus stop, one man holding his poem up on sidewalk, three people on a bench

Poetry on the Streets: Engaging Communities through Stories

Created by writer, Melanie Faranel lo, Poetry on the Streets began by setting up a typewriter around the city—street corners, bus stops, parks— and engaging passersby to write a poem based on a word from a jar of emotions.

From all different walks of life, people wrote about love, fear, loss, pain, hope, joy...

Strangers shared emotions, stories, and moments of human connection.

Poetry on the Streets expanded and evolved, engaging communities through creative self-expression, collaborating and developing projects for social impact and bringing people's words into public spaces. Everyone has a story. How many strangers do we pass each day on the street? What if we stopped to listen?

Explore Poetry on the Streets' gallery to read everyday people's words. And view the many unique and diverse projects, including poetry murals, bus wraps, public exhibits, transit stories, refugee stories, and more.