Published: 14 May, 2009, 17:04
Edited: 14 May, 2009, 17:04
Verse doesn’t always get everyone's passions roused, but a new brothel in the US is giving the full meaning to 'poetry lover'. With reading skills in decline, some bookworms are raising the game by dimming the lights.
The New York Public Library is one of the largest libraries in the US with some 20 million books stacked inside the main branch in Manhattan, but outside not one book is in sight.
Poll after poll shows reading skills in America are steadily declining. Recreational time instead is spent texting, talking, or munching.
Love for the literary word isn’t completely lost: there is a small group of readers and writers who get together frequently to celebrate the power of words, but this meetings take place only at night at discrete locations and some of the visitors even wear facemasks to conceal their identity.
Welcome to the Poetry Brothel – an underground soiree where the articulate reign promiscuous with their word. Instead of physical intimacy, for a small fee, poets like Simone offer private readings of their own personal material.
“It’s really satisfying to read a poem to one person who’s at full attention and is almost in rapture in what you’re saying,” Simone explained.
Customers have quite a cast to pick from. The poets – playing their alter ego – include Nicholas Adamski (Tennessee Pink), Matthew Yeager (The Butler), Paige Taggart (Cecile Ballroom) and others.
“All in all it’s about art. And that exchange and how you can experience that transaction with someone in a very sexy sultry environment, but yet its based on really progressive new art,” one of the customers said.
Part saloon, part salon. Tarot readings, live music, and a full bar are also on offer and like every brothel, this one also has a Madame running the show.
Amid the dim lights, and lace, a newfound twist on traditional poetry reading has been born in Manhattan.