Metropolis Spoken Word Share

Spoken Word and Poetry

Metropolis Spoken Word Share

Saturday, April 21, 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Please join us for an afternoon of lIve spoken word and conversation. Maddy Clifford joins incarcerated poets, rappers, and spoken word artists George "Mesro" Coles, Michael Mackey, Rahsaan Thomas, and Philippe "Kels" Kelly. Free members of the public are invited to listen or bring your own pieces to share with artists who are inside at this call-and-response performance and dialog. 

Metropolis presents the work of Bay Area artists, writers, and creative leaders who live in a metropolis both physically near and consciously distant: prison. There are 2.3 million incarcerated people in the United States -- collectively the 4th largest city in the country, slightly larger than Houston. Literal and metaphorical barriers prevent the flow of communication, limiting access to the insight and leadership of the incarcerated and obscuring the shared experience of human beings in community. In collaboration with Prison Renaissance and incarcerated artists, activists, and creative thinkers, Southern Exposure and East Side Arts Alliance present an installation of curated audio pieces – from conversations to rap, anecdotes to poetry -- centering the voices of those incarcerated in the Bay Area, and revealing the commonalities between the metropolis inside and the metropolis outside. Three live events will include conversations between incarcerated people and audience members. 

This event is part one of an ongoing project. Metropolis Part 2 will be presented at the East Side Arts Alliance on July 20-21, 2018.

Photos courtesy of Peter Merts Photography