Walt Whitman said to have great poets, you must have great audiences.

And with the temporary closure of the Chat Noir’s basement ours has been dropping. And no wonder! Not everyone wants to battle to be heard in a noisy bar nor strain to hear the poetry. We lost something of what made SpokenWord at the Chat Noir special – the quiet, the attention of all those people listening to each poet, listening like what they said was vital. We lost the ‘safe enough’ space that those walls and door provided that allowed anyone to step up and wear their heart on their sleeve and risk being vulnerable or take a chance trying out something new.

We lost, in short, something that made SpokenWord Paris magical.

So.

As the news is that the Chat Noir’s basement will stay closed for up to 4 months…

We’re moving on Monday to try out SpokenWord in a similar space… the ‘cave’ of the Hirondelle bar, 25 rue de l’Hirondelle 75006 just near Métro Saint Michel.

Come out and support SpokenWord!