Dial A Rhyme

In Brisbee, Arizona, there is an old phone booth with bifold doors and a rotary dial. If you call a number from the booth’s directory, you’re connected to a lyrical voice – one of around 100 local and famous poets reading their work. Like the evocative ‘Waiting’ by Jesse Sensibar: “I know what it feels like to wait so long you forget over the years you were even waiting. Except that every once in a while you catch yourself looking out the window to see if they have finally returned.”

Like the verse you may hear when you dial, the phone call is free. The Telepoem Booth is the brainchild of artist Elizabeth Hellstern, who has also set up booths in Dubuque, Iowa; Santa Fe, New Mexico; at New Mexico Highlands University; and near Penn State University.

“Hearing the poet reading his own poetry brings it to life,” Hellstern says. “It conveys a lot of human emotions.” And so does a telephone call.