When a melancholic blues singer gets his big break, he discovers that his success as a musician is mutually exclusive with his happiness as a human being.

In Iowa, a young violinist is asked to play at a famous poet's memorial. In the process, he gains a new perspective on who and why we grieve.

A heartbroken man remembers his ex-lover while reading about the dramatic end to the relationship between two famous poets and listening to his favorite musician.

A professor tries to convey to his students the magnitude of the most perfectly crafted poem ever written in the English language: “Lycidas.”

An African American man in his early-20s becomes renowned for his blues performances on the streets around the United States, playing for jail inmates, young couples, and passerbys alike.

A man in Harlem must traverse perilous waters as he attempts to dually support his brother's career in jazz and help him cope with the pain that led him to a heroin overdose in the past.

A man attends a classical music concert and uses it as a surrealistic form of escape as he copes with the news of his mother's death.

A young would-be poet develops a complicated relationship with the most famous living Bosnian poet at the time. This relationship ends decades later on another continent when that poet dies, and the young man finds a life of his own that doesn't involve poetry.

An aspiring poet who hones his craft through hard practice experiences an unexpected setback when his younger cousin undermines his belief that skilled art-making requires time and effort.

An American writer travels to Sophia where he meets a famous poetess. He falls in love with her and her attitude.