Moondog

Moondog was the first "street person" I ever met and talked to in New York.
Actually, it was my mother who introduced me to him. She'd been listening to him recite poetry for years! There he was, standing on a street corner looking like a druid and my mom went up to him and just began chatting. He was blind and looked so faraway and my mom listened to him (hmph! better than she listened to me--or so it seemed to my teenage self)

More information on Moondog is
here.