Image: via Line Break
Melbourne writer Katie Found had a dream that a friend called her just to read a poem. Disappointed that such a service doesn’t exist in the real world, Found decided to create it.
‘I think that the gesture of someone taking the time to call another person, when they’re not getting paid to do so, and reading them a poem has the power to make a person’s day, and I think that the poem itself has the power to change that person’s outlook on the day,’ Found told ArtsHub.
Lovers of poetry with hungry hearts and eager ears can sign up at Line Break to have a poem read to them over the phone. A team of volunteer readers will then call once a week to share a poem matched to how you described you were feeling – whether it be lovesick, dealing with grief, or just want to be calmed.
Found herself is signed up to the service and was surprised by how hearing someone’s voice on the line and being read a poem moved her. ‘One of the Line Break readers surprised me with a phone call a couple of weeks ago. At the time, I was pacing my living room, frazzled by the day, and he asked me to take a moment to sit down and make myself comfortable. I lay down on my bed, and he read Ted Hughes’ poem Bride and Groom Lie Hidden For Three Days. As with all Line Break calls, he didn’t ask me to engage in a dialogue after the reading, he said, “I hope you have a nice night, goodbye” and hung up.
‘The whole experience was so beautiful and warming, and it clarified the importance of the project for me. It clarified the importance of poetry, human connection, kindness and empathy.
