Thursday, November 3, 2011
concrete justice: street poetry
Poetry by homeless people?
You bet.
Everyone has music in their souls, words that need release, thoughts to be freed.
That's part of the reason I blog. The outlet is good for me, whether anyone else ever reads the words or not.
Concrete Justice, a group in New York, have been performing their works on the stage for the past year and a half. Now, they want to share their message about homelessness, from a personal perspective, with a broader audience.
Enter kickstarter. As they say, they're taking their stories "from the street to the stage to the page" - to the world. The book will contain not just poetry, but also drawings, photographs, and prose.
But books require a good deal of money to become reality, especially on the scale these folks are attempting to achieve. So, I've joined the others backing this project by throwing my Benjamin into the pile.
We'll all find out tomorrow if they are successful.
I hope so. I'd like to be able to share the book with my middle brother. He's had bouts of homelessness for the last ten years - maybe even more than that. Once upon a time, we worried quite a lot about him, but being in a tent in the woods was fine with him. No rules but his, thank you very much.
But last year, he had a TMI while he was with his then-girlfriend. Thank God she called 911 and notified my older brother and myself. On her phone. He had no phone at the time, rebelling against the tether to others.
Now, he still has bouts of homelessness, periods when he wants no rules but his. But he has a phone. I have insisted on that one item in his pocket. I even pay for it every month, so he will always have a lifeline to use if he needs it. He even calls me once in a while.
I wonder what he will think of this book?
I'll have to ask him when I get my copy of it.
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1 comment:
Update #3
11:22 AM, Nov 7, 2011
Thanks to you--we made it to our goal!
Dear Backers and Friends,
This is just the beginning of the infinite gratitude we promised! We made it to our goal of $7000 with your support, and now we will be moving full-speed-ahead with the creation of the Concrete Justice: Street Poetry book. We are in the process of gathering all that we've written, drawn and photographed, and designing and editing the book. We've found a social-justice printing press with whom we're excited to partner, and our graphic designer/book project manager Clarisa Diaz is working hard to get you the books by spring! Please stay in touch to find out about our progress and join us at our upcoming performances. Find us at:
http://www.facebook.com/theatreoftheoppressednyc
http://www.theatreoftheoppressednyc.org/concrete-justice-homeless-collective.html
Attached you'll find a video of Moon, one of the long-time members of Concrete Justice, performing a poem in our rehearsal space at the Society for Ethical Culture. Also, check out the photo of a rockettes-style intervention during the forum at our most recent show at the Judson Memorial Church! Just a preview of what's to come in the book....
Our deepest gratitude.
Katy and Concrete Justice
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