Lawrence poets are set to bring their talents to the Replay Lounge stage Sunday for an edition of a monthly Poetry Munch focusing on nontraditional masculinity.
The show, presented by Midnight Market, will feature local poets Noah Nunn, Mickey Pickens and Keenan Gregory.
“The entire vibe as a whole is unlike any other poetry event that I’ve ever been a part of or go to,” Pickens said. “It’s really open and honest in a way.”
Midnight Market is an erotic arts collective and sex education initiative that was founded by Davi Nicoll in December 2022. Shortly after the Midnight Market made its debut, Nicoll began the Poetry Munch event to create a safe space for poets to share their work.
Nicoll describes a munch as a nonsexual mixer for members of the kink community. She added that Midnight Market’s munch has a poetry reading element to it, where participants can share their erotic art in a safe space.
“I got the idea because I studied poetry in college and my family has a long history of writing poetry,” Nicoll said. “The impact that it’s having is also kind of my intention is to get people openly discussing eroticism and sex in a safe, consensual environment.”
Poetry Munch takes place on the first Sunday of each month and often has 20 to 40 attendees, Nicoll said. Audience members are also given the opportunity to share five minutes of their own poems during the open mic session.
Nicoll said Nunn thought of the topic for this month’s Poetry Munch, inspired by his own life experiences of masculinity and self-growth.
“I’ve seen how disruptive traditional toxic masculinity is for myself and others, whether it’s people, my family, friends, loved ones, you name it,” Nunn said. “I really got passionate about changing and developing myself as a person, especially ever since high school.”
The Poetry Munch: Nontraditional Masculinity event starts at 10 p.m. Sunday, July 7 at the Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St. Admission costs $3 at the door.
The event is open to those ages 21 and up. Find more information on the Facebook event page at this link.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Lane Rozin (he/they), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since January 2024, is a student at the University of Kansas Schools of Journalism and Film. He is a graduate of Pittsburg High School, where he was the multimedia editor for Pitt Media in 2019-21. He is currently the managing editor at the University Daily Kansan and development director at KJHK. See more of his work for the Times here.
