‘No coins required’: Payphone reads out daily poems in Dartmouth, N.S.

The Poetry Phone in Dartmouth, N.S., reads free poems daily. (Brianne Foley/CTV News Atlantic)

Peter Nightingale wanted to give something back to his community of Dartmouth, N.S., while also repurposing old technology.

So, he bought and built the Poetry Phone.

“The Poetry Phone, I kind of think of it as the next-level version of the little free libraries that you see around the city,” Nightingale told CTV News Atlantic.

“You pick up the handset and it’s going to read you a poem, and every day it’s going to be a different poem.”

He said he chose the old payphone because a lot of them aren’t in use and don’t seem to have a purpose anymore.

“You still see them all over the city, but you never really interact with them,” he said. “So, I thought, how can I take this old piece of infrastructure and turn it into something that is just a fun project that people can interact with?”

Nightingale changes the poem daily.

“It kind of gives, maybe, something for people to look forward to in the morning walks, or just something that you wouldn’t expect to see normally in something like this,” he said.

“So, it’s all public domain poetry. There’s going to be some older things that you might be familiar with, but there might be some poets that maybe you’ve never heard before.”

He set up the phone on Waverley Road in Dartmouth, next to his neighbour’s house, but still on his own land.

“Oh, it’s great, I think it’s a nice opportunity to hear different poems, and art, and it’s always good to be exposed to literature and have free access to it,” said Nightingale’s neighbour Mary Hansen.

“It’s just kind of fun. It looks cute and is inviting.”

Since it looks like it’s on Hansen’s property, she often gets questions about it from people visiting her, but she said the overall remarks are positive.

“I usually see people listening to it from inside my house, I’m not usually outside, but usually I see big smiles and people are happy to see something like that in our neighbourhood,” she said, her daughter Poppy nodding her agreement.

“It’s been pretty positive, so I’m getting about 10 calls a day to the phone,” added Nightingale. “I’ve had a couple of people leave me voicemails with some good feedback and ran into some of my neighbours who have enjoyed seeing it, and lots of people stopping by.”

As for why poetry, Nightingale had rhyme to his reason.

“With something like this, you kind of need something that’s bite-sized, something that people can just take 30 seconds or a minute and interact with. It’s quick enough that it’s not going to take a lot of time out of your day, but you can come back every day and experience it again,” he said.

“I think poetry is also something that maybe not everybody’s going to sit down every day and read a book of poetry, so maybe it’s something that you’re not exposing yourself to regularly. This is an opportunity for you to maybe take in something new, some art that you otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to listen to or interact with,” he added.

As for what he hopes the community gets out of it, that is pretty clear.

“I just want people to enjoy it the way that they want to enjoy it. I don’t have an agenda or something I’m trying to achieve with this,” he laughed.

After the poem recording plays, there’s an option for listeners to leave a voicemail for Nightingale. He’s encouraging them to leave feedback about the project and suggestions for poems they would like to heard recorded.

“Or maybe you’re a poet and you’d like to leave me a voicemail of your poem that can go on the poetry line, really anything people want to share with me, I’d love to get the feedback,” he said.

People who are unable to visit the phone can hear the daily poem by calling 902-593-4072.

Much like a collect call, there is no payment required, but no calls can be made from the phone either.

Nightingale says the Poetry Phone is meant for one purpose: to enjoy.

“That’s it. No coins required. Just pick it up and it plays the recording.”

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