Who is The Poet from Midaq Alley and what is their importance?

A senile old man, led about by a boy, "The Poet" is a part of a dying breed, the public reciter. He carries a two-stringed fiddle and a book, and makes a regular nuisance of himself reciting ancient stories in a harsh voice to the patrons of Kirsha's Café. Kirsha has for some time been trying to ban him from performances in his café and has now installed a secondhand radio to discourage him further. The poet begs to stay, as the other cafés have already thrown him out and he must support himself and the son he is apprenticing.