The Poetry Brothel Chicago: DEVOTION

Consent to poetical intimacy as we take you to Church with confessed love in all its forms: a journey that will make you pine, long, and sweat in honor of Valentine's Day. Devote your heart, soul, senses, and yearnings to a night of love and literature in all their most decadent iterations.

Whether you're looking for a unique and romantic Valentine's date, a Palentine's outing for your amazing friend group, or to connect with new friends and lovers while treating yourself to the fun you deserve, The Poetry Brothel provides the perfect occasion for celebrating love and beauty in all its forms.

For DEVOTION, we are honored to be joined by Special Guest Poet Faylita Hicks:

The author of two poetry collections, A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books, 2024), a finalist for the 2024 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Award, and HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, they are currently working on their debut memoir-in-essays about their incarceration, A Body of Wild Light: The Fall and Rise of An American Poet (Haymarket Books).

A 2024 Grammy-nominee, a 2022 Art for Justice Fund Grantee, and the winner of the 2020 Sappho Poetry Award and the Best of Net Prize for Poetry, Hicks was a 2023 Envisioning Justice Grantee with Illinois Humanities, a 2021 Shearing Fellow with Black Mountain Institute, a 2021 Artivism fellow with Broadway Advocacy Coalition, a 2021 Poet-in-Residence with Civil Rights Corps, and a 2020 Right of Return Fellow with the Center for Art and Advocacy, amongst others. They were recently named a 2024 Gwendolyn Brooks Living Legacy Honoree and a shortlist finalist in Chicago Reader’s 2024 Best of Chicago Poets category. Originally from Gardena California, Hicks currently lives, dreams, and creates in Chicago, Illinois.

Age Requirement: 21+
Doors Open: 7 PM
Show Time: 8:00–10:00 PM
Private Readings: Continue after 10 PM

VIP tickets include priority seating, and a token to get your journey started.

“Alongside staged poetry readings, there are burlesque performers, dancers, acrobats, tarot readings, poem-on-the-spot writers and more around the venue. Guests can also get private readings from whichever poet they like upon request.” – Block Club Chicago

At The Poetry Brothel, a “madam” presents a rotating cast of poets, artists, and artisans who operate within self-constructed characters, “erupting into verse in public and luring guests into back rooms for private readings,” as described in The New Yorker. Central to The Poetry Brothel experience is the creation of character, which for each artist serves as a disguise and a freeing device, enabling The Poetry Brothel to be a place of uninhibited creative expression where artists and audience members alike can communicate more authentically.

Artists performing with the Brothel reflect the diverse identities of our great city of Chicago. Cis and trans women, cis and trans men, genderqueer, genderfluid, and nonbinary folks, people of color, queer, straight, emerging, established, local, and international poets make up our cabinet of poets and brothel beauties. Their alter-egos may be faeries, sirens, witches, aliens, divas, royalty, demons, ancient forests, and everything in between. The Poetry Brothel uses its platform to support sex workers and to educate audiences about the sex industry.

Behave with beauty, connect with intention. We are, by and large, a no-contact event — here to blow your mind and nothing else! Always ask before touching anyone in our House, and report any discomfort to security, staff, or the Madam Herself without delay.

Our show may include flashing lights, reasonably amplified music, and a startling glimpse of your true self.

If any special accommodations are needed, including pay-what-you-can tickets for those facing a financial barrier, please contact the madam:

Please see our FAQs for answers to common questions.

Follow us on Instagram: @poetrybrothelchicago for updates and sneak peeks.

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Host or Publisher The Poetry Society of New York