Meaningful, Practical, Magical

The guiding principles behind Poetess and Stranger

By Krista Cain | May 4, 2024

Sarah Snider, owner of Poetess and Stranger, has poured nearly three decades of experience into the creation of her Petoskey shop. The retail endeavor, which opened its doors in 2021, offers a variety of quality, magical goods at great value.

The magic that imbues itself into Poetess and Stranger is that entry point within ourselves where we find deeper connection and meaning. According to Snider, this is “not terribly different than prayer or intention work or meditation. It’s any moment where you go inside yourself to connect with a deeper mystery.”

Snider goes on to say, “As with any kind of spiritual practice, [it's about] really developing your experience of that mystery and trying to learn as much as you can about it by connecting with the best parts of yourself and sharing those parts with the world around you in actions that are meant to advance the lives of the people around you.”

To help everyday people get in touch with the magic within themselves, Poetess and Stranger carries candles, incense, notebooks, herbal medicines (which you can select from bulk bins to suit your particular wants and needs), soaps, books, as well as an assortment of crystals, tarot decks, stickers, jewelry, gaming dice, live plants, and more.

The tone of these offerings are not strictly solemn—they also include sweetness and even wry sarcasm. Each of the hundreds of items on offer is meant to be meaningful, beautiful, and above all, practical to individuals of all backgrounds and spiritual (or non-spiritual) practices.

“I don’t need to sell the thing you use once and then [discard],” Snider says. “I carry things that you will use for a long time or things that you will use up altogether. I’m trying to reduce some material waste in this world by selling things that will be used.”

Meeting the Community

In addition to being the owner and operator of Poetess and Stranger, Snider is an active member of The Petoskey Club, a community mental health group, as well as The Gathering, an interfaith organization focused on generating mutual understanding and positive connections for people from across the faith spectrum. She is also a published poet.

But before becoming a Michigander, Snider was a Minnesotan who grew up not far from Minneapolis. She fell in love with northern Michigan through decades of visiting her parents’ summer home here. After graduating from University of Minnesota (Morris) with an art degree, she decided to make Petoskey her home.

Although moving here was an easy choice, opening a storefront has not always been so simple.

After hosting her first psychic fair during her first year here, Snider was alerted to the fact that this practice had been made illegal in Petoskey in 2014 by way of a local ordinance. When she looked into the ordinance, she found that it was written in such a way that would restrict and force additional licensure not just for fortune tellers but also for local church ministers.

Upon this realization, and along with local clergy, she challenged the ordinance. And although lawyers and even the American Civil Liberties Union got involved, Snider says it was a positive experience. “At no point in time did I feel like the city council was out to get me. I felt heard,” she says.

City council voted immediately to overturn the original ordinance until they were able to come up with something new. At that point, it was discovered that in the years between 2014 and 2021, Michigan had passed a law making it illegal for any municipality to legally restrict any practice not made illegal by a state law. “And so [the issue] just vanished in the night,” Snider says.

Free to carry on, Snider turned her focus back to the store and what it takes to make a successful business. “There’s an element of fun to pivoting with [customer] preferences and requests. What a treat for me when someone comes into the shop and [exclaims], ‘Aw, yeah! I’ve been looking for this!’ Or, ‘I’ve always wondered about this but I’ve only ever seen it online!’ What I love is to delight people.”

This ability to flex and flow with the changing needs of the community is part of why she named the store Poetess and Stranger, a phrase from one of her poems. In it, Snider talks about her relationship to the lake waters and their relationship to her. (Read the full poem at poetessandstranger.com.)

The name, according to Snider, is a nod to the ever-changing flow of life and keeps her free to change the tagline of her business to reflect her offerings as they grow and evolve. For example, when the store first opened it focused heavily on herbal remedies, but Snider found that to be unsustainable and has made several pivots along the way.

Economy of Mutual Reverence

Today, the store’s inventory is thoughtfully selected and strongly features goods from an abundance of companies owned by women, those in the LGBTQ+ community, military veterans, and other marginalized groups.

But one thing you won’t find at Poetess and Stranger are artificially high prices. Through her storefront, Snider creates a unique kind of economy of mutual reverence. Here, suppliers and customers take part not just in transactions, per se, but in mutually beneficial exchanges.

And though the suppliers’ fee remains the same, Snider ensures that many of these items are priced below Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) in order to keep them accessible to community members living in our region. She also stocks items in the $5-$20 range alongside more precious offerings so that shoppers of all means can find something delightful.

But what if you have a need and no money? Amazingly, Snider has you covered there, too. She stocks free supplies that folks are welcome to take as needed. These run the gamut from snacks to handmade scarves to menstrual supplies to books, hats, and more. And, as with every aspect of her business, there is a thoughtful inquiry behind this decision.

“It’s tiring surviving under your own steam,” Snider says, but opening Poetess and Stranger has given her the autonomy to “fulfill a community need.” She hopes that her retail products, free offerings, and events help people answer the following questions for themselves: Who are we when our needs are met? When we are fed? Clothed? When we have an opportunity to learn?

“I think each of us is astonished to discover that there are so many times when our needs are just not met. And this isn’t necessarily about poverty, either. [It’s about] how we feel when our needs are met and we don’t have to return the favor.”

Creating Space for the Poets

Snider does many things without expectation of a favor returned; it’s simply part of the ethos behind Poetess and Stranger. This includes the poetry club and events that she hosts, which are open to all.

Last April, in honor of National Poetry Month, Snider hosted her first poetry workshop. The group now meets every Saturday with a monthly open mic night, too.

“When we read poetry, when we discuss poetry, we become better poets,” she says.

To help people along this journey, Snider curates a selection of poems each month for attendees to get curious about, dig into, and find inspiration.

“The people that attend this group regularly, I have seen a change in their poetry and it is phenomenal. And then, of course, we do a poetry reading once a month where people come to read their original poems, and it is tender. These people are getting up and being vulnerable. This is a space where we’re not going to be offering criticism. This is an encouraging space. There are poets of all experience levels [and ages] and I love it.”

The Poetess and Stranger poetry club, aka Alive Poets Society, meets Saturdays from 9am-11am. Open Mic nights are held on the third Mondays of the month from 7pm-finish (cancellations are announced ahead of time on social media). 

Find Poetess and Stranger at 445 E Mitchell St, Unit A in Petoskey. poetessandstranger.com