'Typing poems for strangers has turned them into friends'

Perched on a park bench, an old typewriter balanced on his knees, Fraser Logan smiles at passers-by who slow to read his sign: May I write for you?

The 32-year-old former academic composes stream-of-consciousness poems in three minutes for strangers, inspired often by just a single-word prompt which can verge on the deeply personal.

Kayleigh Foster, who has framed the joyful piece he wrote imagining her future wedding, described him as "a reincarnation of Shakespeare".

"It was just really lovely to have that human connection and that interaction," she said.

Logan, who writes from a bench in Leamington Spa's Jephson Gardens, in Warwickshire, said being vulnerable with complete strangers was "one of the best ways, I think, to make friends".

He grew up in Bridge of Weir in Renfrewshire, and began Typing for Strangers in January after finishing his philosophy PhD at the University of Warwick.

Having researched honesty, he wanted to witness unfiltered responses to his work and films his interactions with those who stop.

"I can see if they're moved, if they're affected," he said.

"And the other thing, I suppose, was wanting to be more honest with other people, so saying what I think, being quite naked and vulnerable around people in public rather than just writing for myself."

Although he had been freewriting prose poems for about a decade, making them up on the spot in public made him "extremely nervous", the writer admitted.

"I was worried what people would think, but the reaction has been great.

"I've had people walking past saying, 'we need more human art, human writers, especially in this day and age of generative AI'.

"The nerves are still there a little bit at the beginning of the day, but I think I'm learning to let go."

"Too shy" to stop the first time she saw the writer, Foster plucked up the courage when she passed his bench a second time with her boyfriend, Andy.

"I'm really drawn to creative people," the 32-year-old said, who moved to Leamington Spa from Birmingham last year.

They gave the prompt of "candyland", as a blend of their first names and a potential wedding theme, and loved the playful piece he wrote so much it is now framed on their bedroom wall.

"It was so impressive what he was able to write from that tiny prompt," Foster said. "We'd love to have Fraser at our wedding doing this for our guests."

The writer has a quality that "makes you slow down", she added.

"I've seen all his videos and he has the same effect on everyone. Everyone has introspective thoughts on the back of his poems and his writing. He genuinely is a reincarnated Shakespeare."

Warwick graduate Simran Singh said: "In this age of AI, when an actual person says, 'I empathise with you', it has a whole different meaning."

He originally stopped to ask Logan to write him a piece about vice.

"Right now I'm looking for jobs, so whenever I do something that is not productive I feel a lot guilty, like hanging out with friends or maybe binge watching a show quite late," he said.

"It's just this weird dilemma, because when you're stressed you need to relax and when you're trying to relax, you're guilty."

The poem gave the 26-year-old, originally from New Delhi, India, a sense of, "hey, I understand what you're going through and I empathise with you".

"I got an actual human genuine human connection," he said. "Because of that instance, we later became friends."

Logan described his process as a "two-way" exchange.

"They're sharing with me something sometimes quite vulnerable, something quite personal. And then I'm trying to translate it into a poem.

"It's a great way, I think, to lower your defences and lower your masks and just to be very open and available to complete strangers and one of the best ways I think to make friends.

"I'm getting to meet lots of lovely people."

Currently surviving on donations and savings, he is hoping is to build up bookings for events, festivals and weddings.

"At the moment I'm relying on the generosity of strangers to pay me some donations, which requires a lot of writing because quite often I receive nothing," he said.

"How do I make money as a poet in the modern day, especially when people may struggle to see the value of poetry?

"I hope that there is a market for human art and that people increasingly over time will be more appreciative of human beings creating poems on the fly."

He recently took his typewriter to Florence, "and that was a real highlight because it felt like it was becoming international".

"I think that's the dream... to travel, travel and type all over the world."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.