What are words, really, but letters and sounds?<\/p>\n
When arranged into a message, words can be powerful.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery word means something different in some way to someone else,\u201d says Nico Patino. \u201cWords really are nothing more than sounds that we give meaning to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patino is a street-side poet based in Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Nearly every day, the 28-year-old sets up his chair, desk and typewriter on the sidewalk along 2nd Street with a sign that reads \u201cAsk me for a poem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes about five minutes. They can give me as little as a word or a few words, but I can work with just a mood, a story, a question,\u201d Patino says.<\/p>\n
For a small donation, Patino begins by asking questions, writing poems for people based on their answers.<\/p>\n
Often, he records their interactions and posts them on his Instagram page, which boasts nearly 60,000 followers.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, all I need from whoever it is that approaches me,\u201d Patino explains, \u201cis some sort of personal thread from their heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
About a month ago, Patino received one of the most personal stories yet.<\/p>\n
A woman approached him asking for a poem and did not expect to detail her divorce, something she said distresses her five years later.<\/p>\n
The clip, dubbed \u201cWoman crying at the bank,\u201d was viewed one million times, but the woman never revealed herself until Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to leave the house to come to the bank,\u201d said Daisy Holohan, the mystery woman in Nico\u2019s video. \u201cWhen I came out, I saw someone sitting at a wooden table on a wooden chair with a manual typewriter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holohan could never have anticipated that her curiosity that day would lead to a life-changing moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI may count the years, but the years can’t count. I’m so much more than them, than men. I’m 57 and gorgeous, like a wisdom tree. I\u2019m here still, forever me,\u201d Patino wrote for Holohan, who was stunned by the honest and beauty of his words.<\/p>\n
The 57-year-old said she had been in a difficult place emotionally, unwilling to leave her house, only coming to the bank that day out of necessity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him what was most on my mind, which was that I’ve been struggling,\u201d she said. \u201cI did not expect to get something with so much meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those words had more meaning than either Holohan and Patino could\u2019ve ever imagined.<\/p>\n
The two reunited Thursday for the first time since they first met.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had no way of knowing that I had not left my house in almost a week, you know? And since then, I have and I go out, I take my walks again, I\u2019ve met up with my girlfriends twice,\u201d Holohan told Patino.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank\u00a0you,\u201d he replied, as Holohan began crying again.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrying at the bank for a third time,\u201d she said as she laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to just write the truth, especially because I can’t make assumptions. I don’t know these people. They are in fact strangers,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
It was a five-minute encounter, but the words will stay with Holohan for a lifetime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s a gift,\u201d Holohan said of Patino. \u201cI think that’s definitely a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What are words, really, but letters and sounds? When arranged into a message, words can be powerful. \u201cEvery…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,18448,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-425723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115665218172612614","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}