Brian's Poetry Oasis is a blending of storytelling, music, and poetry, visual art as well.

And predominantly, it's been living in the podcast space, by both its origins and other ways it's expressing itself, I guess, it's a living organism, but the overall vibe of it is to create an experience for folks, for them to take a take five from the craziness of life, for a moment of self care and nurturing.

I'm actually in my fifth season for podcast, though its birthday is, I think, probably, seven, it's probably seven right now.

- I know you focus a lot on healing and wellness in these podcasts.

- Yeah.

- So why is the wellness and healing part an important piece to it?

- Yeah, well, first of all, there's my story, both my story and both what has been the inspiration for the poems that has chronicled that, my journey of hope and healing with mental illness, which actually began at the age of 12.

That was the onset of depression for me.

I didn't know what was going on, I was a happy-go-lucky boy otherwise, my parents, nor anybody else.

But what also occurred at that time was I began writing poetry.

It was a way to find my way through the difficulty of depression.

And fast forwarding to my adult years when I, actually, I was properly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which required a different type of treatment and self care, that I was able to, in my mid 50s, to step up, step out of the world of work, write poetry again.

I wasn't expecting that to happen.

And thanks to the Open Mic Weekly Caffe Lena opportunities, Brian's Poetry Oasis came to be.

It's where I got my handle, Poet Brian.

And what I would do is I would go on stage and I would, ahead of time, I'd have a theme and three poems, and I would address the audience before I got started.

And I would say, "Okay, what I'd like you to do is, rather than applaud in between each of the poems, I just want you to sit back, close your eyes, take a moment for yourself.

I want to create an experience for you, and I want to create an experience for myself."

So I do this week after week.

And one of those weeks, one of the hosts, in introducing me says, "Okay, (laughs) you're really gonna like this guy.

What he does is really different.

It's gonna be so relaxing for you.

It's like he creates an oasis."

And that was the birth of Brian's Poetry Oasis.

(gentle music) When I'm in a funk and my emotions are stalled, I quickly grow tired of my cheery facade.

That's when a love song, a vista, the perfect poem that describes what I feel, release all those tears that have pent up inside.

You know, the mental illness piece, I'm, that our population is many.

(laughs) And it was fortified, if that's the right word, because of COVID.

So going back to the core mission, which is, hey, give yourself a little self love, you know, you matter, I matter.

And it's different from a lot of podcasts.

A lot of podcasts are actually quite long.

They can be an hour plus.

And the format often is a guest and a host interaction type of thing.

And folks are often plugging in while they're multitasking.

So it could be while they're driving, working out, whatever the case.

Brian's Poetry Oasis is different.

I'm actually inviting people to take a pause and step away from whatever they're doing, or maybe save it for nighttime before you go to bed to help you unwind and relax.

And just as I had the time limit that they set for performers at open mic, which is no more than 10 minutes, my podcasts are actually three to 10 minutes.

So I'm creating that experience in a really manageable way.

- And how are some ways you've seen your work kind of, I guess, help people?

Are there any examples?

Have you gotten any testimonials back of like, Hey?

- Oh, I have a lot, actually.

In fact, I, one of my goals is actually to sorta gather them all up so I can both have them to refer back to, but just to appreciate.

As an artist, ultimately, when these poems and when these podcasts come to be, I'm the first audience.

So that's pretty cool.

And actually, because of its healing moment, maybe that's the only audience that sort of matters.

But ultimately, regardless of how vast my audience is, how broad I can cast my net, I'm connecting with folks, that's my aim is, at least, one person at a time.

It's that really personal unique experience.

So the feedback that I get is equally personal.

And what's really cool is that I actually send out episodes that are handpicked to folks, I text them, over time, folks that are my fans, or maybe folks who don't know about me.

And in that moment, they connect back with me and they say, "Wow, that was really special," or the artistry, "Wow, that was really well produced.

I'm impressed," you know?

- Yeah.

- But it's a positive vibe and I'm actually very grateful and humbled to have the gift that I can share with others.

- Well, thank you, Brian.

I think, folks, where can they find you?

At your website, everything At your website, right?

- Well, the way, first of all, if you ever Google Brian's Poetry Oasis.

- You'll get it.

- Brian with an I, and apostrophe S, you'll find it.

But certainly, the traditional podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple, but yeah, anywhere that you're listening to your podcasts, you can catch it.

- You can find them.

All right, well, thank you, Brian, for joining us today.

I appreciate you.

- I really appreciate being here, and I love your show.

- Thank you.