On novembre - 19 - 2011
The Poetry Brothel, a unique and immersive poetry experience, takes poetry outside classrooms and lecture halls and places it in the lush interiors of a bordello.
The Poetry Brothel presents poets as high courtesans who impart their work in public readings, spontaneous eruptions of poetry, and most distinctly, as purveyors of private poetry readings on couches, chaise lounges and in private rooms.
Central to this experience is the creation of character, which for poet and audience functions as disguise and as freeing device, enabling
The Poetry Brothel to be a place of uninhibited creative expression in which the poets and clients can be themselves in private.
The Poetry Brothel also explores and responds to the tendency of poets to undervalue themselves inside the creative marketplace by providing a seductive and intimate means of confirming for writers and audience alike the literal monetary value of such work.
The Poetry Brothel is produced by The Poetry Society of New York, a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. The Poetry Society of New York’s other projects include Brothel Books, Quartier Rouge, and the New York
The cornerstone of The Poetry Brothel is its New York event series.
A dreamlike twist on a poetry reading, The Poetry Brothel is foremost interested in showcasing a diverse roster of emerging and established, local and international, male and female, innovative poets.
The events are also immersive environments based in concept on the fin-de-siecle brothels in New Orleans and Paris, many of which functioned as safe havens for fledgling, avant-garde artists. The poets act as “whores,” making audience members “johns,” but instead of physical intimacy, the poets offer the intimacy of their poetry in private, one-on-one readings.
For a small fee, all of the resident “whores” are available for these sequestered readings at any time during the event.
Of course, any good brothel need a clever front; ours is part saloon and part salon, offering a full bar, live music, live painting, fortune-tellers, and gypsies with newly integrated themes, performances and installations at each event.
