"It was a two-way conversation: he told me his story as I asked questions and listened. People passed by. Some gave him money; most didn't. No one stopped. 'See, fella, ' he said, 'I need more than money for food and things. Yeah, I need that too. But I also need people to hear me.' That day, I opened my ears and took the time to hear people on the streets talk." (Excerpt from The Reason, Michael Roy's explanation for writing these stories.)

Michael Roy carefully listened to the men and women who inhabit the streets of Philadelphia, America's fourth largest city. Whether they lived...