Poetry on the Streets: Engaging Communities through Stories

Created by writer, Melanie Faranello, 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 in creative self-expression, collaborating and developing projects to create impact, promote understanding and human connection by bringing people's words into public spaces. Engaging community through stories, one stranger at a time. Everyone has a story. 

Explore  Poetry on the Streets' recent projects, including poetry murals, bus wraps, gallery exhibits, transit stories, refugee stories, and more. 

Connecting everyday people to the poetry of everyday life

Strangers wrote about their experience. Here are the poems arranged by human emotions. 

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