Travelers passing through Long Beach Airport today will have the opportunity to experience a romantic surprise, with the airport offering a pop-up love poem experience.
Poet and author Brian Sonia-Wallace will be stationed at the airport with an antique Remington typewriter from 5 to 7 p.m., creating personalized love poems for travelers based on their love stories. The poems will serve as a commemoration of the love-filled holiday, with participants receiving the gift of their custom poem on the spot. In addition, a second typewriter will be available for travelers who want to craft personal messages or love letters.
Sonia-Wallace, who started writing poetry for strangers in 2012, is the founder of RENT Poet, a company that aims to connect people through ink in a wired-in world. His writing has appeared in a range of publications, including Rolling Stone and The Guardian, and he is currently the poet laureate of West Hollywood.
This is the second year that the airport has offered the holiday pop-up experience, with the inaugural pop-up having taken place in 2020.
Sonia-Wallace expressed his excitement at returning to the airport, saying that “to be able to write here again is an emotional moment,” and that there is no better time than Valentine’s Day to encourage travelers to think about love and the people they are traveling with or to.
The pop-up will be located in the terminal past the Transportation Security Administration check-in, and only ticketed travelers will be able to participate in the experience.
What a terrific idea!
I love it!
thank god we have a poet laureate. how did we survive without one?
Thank goodness the Drag Laureate didn’t appear by mistake. Maybe next Valentines Day.