Rashan Brown on ‘poetry me, please’ and bringing appreciation back to the art

1 year ago 6

Rashan Brown is making sure that poetry isn’t a lost art.

The Bronx, New York, native is the founder and CEO of “poetry me, please” — a live spoken word poetry showcase and content studio and currently the largest poetry showcase in New York City, averaging over 400 guests per show.

The showcase has also been held in Accra, Ghana, and London.

Poets have the opportunity to grace the stage for seven minutes. In addition, they receive videography and photography content, features on the platform’s social media, and they gain a community.

And for attendees, along with the poetry acts, there’s a DJ keeping the vibes going, musical performances during intermission and a full-course dinner.

For Brown, it was very important for poetry me, please to be a safe space for artists.

“When I think about myself and I think about the friends and the people that I interact with, especially the people that look like me, that sound like me, that experience life in the same way that I do, like understanding that we don’t really have a lot of safe spaces,” says Brown.

“I think that we try to create that amongst ourselves,” Brown continues. “But as we start to branch out, there’s always that level of like, I’m not too sure if I can explain to you or share the thoughts that I’m thinking right now. And I think with poetry, me, please, we found a way to connect and to answer all of those questions.”

Brown also revealed that spoken word became an outlet for him after a high school breakup and that it helped him express his emotions.

“I think what makes it, you know, maybe most comforting to me is that I’ve found a way to really be emotional,” Brown tells theGrio.

“As a Black man living in today’s society, like understanding what that means… when I’m on stage, it’s OK to be vulnerable,” he continues. “It’s OK for me to cry. It’s OK for me to take some time to myself [and] really just think about what’s going on.”