A Savage woman with a savage tongue.”

My first experience of the Poetry Brothel London that night changed my world. And if you have been to a Poetry Brothel Toronto (PBTo for short) event and been moved by it in any way, perhaps it changed yours, too.

I have always written poetry; I have been keeping a journal since I could write, and maintained daily entries since I was fourteen years old. Seriously. I have BOXES of journals in storage, and more on shelves. I chose Poetry and Prose writing courses for my electives, both in high school and in university.

As a young adult I was more excited by song lyrics, beat poetry, and surrealism than partying. I climbed trees with a book and my journal tucked into my crossbody bookbag and a black ballpoint pen stuck through my ponytail. A millennial preferring pen and paper to laptops and lattes, I was never anyone’s first pick for their basketball team, and I never found a school club that offered me a sense of belonging. My high school friend group was split between a musical theatre junkies crew, and a core group of philosophical hippies who enjoyed laying in the grass, smoking joints on a summer’s day, waxing poetical about adolescence, and singing along to The Smiths.

And, suddenly in my late twenties, I was swallowed whole, submerged and immersed into the Poetry Brothel. In London. Listening to poetry and music in a dimly lit cocktail bar filled with like-minded poets, musicians, philosophers, and thinkers costumed in lingerie, tophats, and dreams. Private readings with poets happened behind the stage, through a maze of floating swathes of fabric, in candle light. When I partook of one poet’s offerings, I was asked whether I consented to being blindfolded, and found myself further immersed. With that hint of sensory deprivation and her accented voice speaking softly in my ear, I fell deeper into the world of words that had always beckoned to me.

I found a home. Thank goodness for Aisha.

She introduced me to singer, songwriter, and poet Gabriel Moreno, who invited me to perform at the next Poetry Brothel London event.

Okay, confession time: I am obsessed with mermaids and fae-folk. Always have been. So while I was on the other side of the pond and developing my performing poet character for the Poetry Brothel London, it seemed only natural to me to be a Siren. Hence, Serena Wild was born.

Serena Wild was a siren of the sea, whose song had been putting sailors in trances for centuries. Sometimes she spoke her poetry, sometimes she sang, accompanied by the wind flapping against invisible sails or the muted sound of sea glass turning over shells in the tides as they pulled her in toward the shore.

But she had a short life. I moved back to Toronto after participating in only a few Poetry Brothel London performances.

While Serena Wild found herself on the ocean floor of my consciousness, the Poetry Brothel was near the front of my mind. Through my move back to Canada, various forms of employment, a couple romantic partners, and several moves of house throughout Toronto, along with Global Pandemic, the Poetry brothel kept nagging at me.

Why didn’t we have one here, in Toronto? The Poetry Brothel began in 2007 in New York City, produced in association with the Poetry Society of New York. By the time I got in touch with Stephanie Berger, the CEO of PSNY and co-creator of the Poetry Brothel (along with the fabulous Nicholas Adamski), the Poetry Brothel already had chapters in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, London, Amsterdam, Mexico City, and, oddly Edmonton Alberta, among other places globally…

But not in Toronto? Seriously? We’re the closest major city, and a theatre city at that!

I kept thinking about starting it, putting out feelers to venues, pitching it to friends. Everyone I spoke to thought it was interesting, but just as I started thinking, “maybe now is the time to start this thing,” the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. It certainly wasn’t the time for immersive events in intimate settings. I put the idea on hold.

Until June of 2023, just before my birthday and the summer solstice collided, along with the inspiration to reignite this pursuit.

But how did the idea become a reality? How did I finally come to scratch the itch that was the Poetry Brothel Toronto, the urge to start this immersive literary cabaret that I had repressed for almost five years since returning to Canada?

Stay tuned, lovelies. This story is a long one but a good one, so I’m breaking it up for you. Come back soon for Part II, and I’ll tell you all about the poverty, depression, soul searching, and creative problem-solving that led to the birth of PBTo and its Madame, Titania, Queen of the Fairies.

Xoxo

Brendee/Madame Titania

 Madame Titania for the Studio 54 Cabaret, held on January 25, 2025, as photographed by Ryan Francoz