'Today' host Steinfort cries on air after street poet's touching poem about him being a girl dad

On the southern end of Coolangatta in Queensland, Australia, a poet sits in a park across Rainbow Bay, with a yellow vintage typewriter and a black-and-white sign that reads, “Can I write you a poem? No $. Just kindness.” Ever since he set up this sign, Gold Coast man Darren Hill has written for more than 100 strangers. 'TODAY' co-host Tom Steinfort recently went on air to take a live interview with Hill and was left teary-eyed after listening to a poem he had written for him. The October 12, 2026, broadcast of the poem has since amassed more than 12,700 views.

Poem for a 'girl dad'

Since Steinfort is a “girl dad,” the poem, called "The Man They Need," was a tribute to a baby girl and her father’s feelings watching her grow into a woman. The poem’s first stanza went on like this: “Those perfect little hearts/that have made their home in yours/these pairs of eyes that see the world/you thought was understood/before they showed you more.” The beautiful poem then proceeded to show a girl growing up, needing space, and eventually becoming an empowered woman.

It further read, "You'll want to hold the world at bay and soften every edge, try and catch their falling tears and keep them from the edge/but little girls become women, and our arms aren't meant as walls, so teach them how to stand and find their voice and learn that to fall is natural and it's a part of life/and at some point in the future, at no time or date or place, you'll discover that they've grown up and found their own space. So let them see your softer side before they open their own doors/for a father's strength is tenderness, not the absence of his flaws." The moment Hill stopped reciting, Steinfort brought his hands to his eyes and quietly flicked away tears rolling down his face.

Secret of the vintage typewriter

During the interview that preceded the poetry recitation, Steinfort asked Hill about his choice to use a vintage typewriter. He replied that "it's nice to actually go a bit analog, and it's beautiful, like the font, and it even has a mind of its own, so it tends to jump around a little bit and create blemishes that aren't mine.” Describing his inspiration behind setting up a stall and writing poems for people, Hill added that he lost his dad last year. He spent considerable time writing to process his emotions and find meaning in his experience.

A way of catharsis

Eventually bored by his own thoughts, Hill decided to write to other people. It felt “cathartic” to him. “I think it’s part of the experience when I hear someone’s story, and the stories are wild, like everything from fires to nurses to single mums to people sleeping in their cars,” he told Steinfort and his co-host. “It’s quite extraordinary to get that cross-section of humanity and then try and turn it into some meaningful words."

Hill admitted that nearly 80% of the strangers who stop by his desk are female. “I’d like to think that’s because I am such a bloody good-looking rooster,” he joked, and proceeded to say that it’s probably the courage and curiosity of women to be more open and vulnerable that prompts them to open up to him. Additionally, he added that a third of the people he writes about get quite emotional.

Poetry heals the soul

It is universally known that poetry evokes emotional responses by triggering brain reward circuits, stimulating prosodic rhythm, and enabling self-reflection. Scientifically, research by Nottingham Trent University found that reading and writing poetry helped over 50% of respondents with loneliness or isolation and helped roughly 50% cope with anxiety and depression. 16% said poetry assisted them with ongoing mental health symptoms.

'Made me tear up'

Viewers on Instagram were left in puddles of tears after hearing Hill’s poem. @blondenomads commented, “Bloody beautiful!” @lynseyg said, “It really hits hearing that while knowing that the rights of girls and women are being stripped away every day in Australia.”