This event is for all ages.

Leslie Lyons defines her latest public engagement project as Social Poetry.  After collecting lines and phrases from various subjects for each piece (while also taking their portrait) Leslie then uses the loose elements of the text to craft together a larger work of narrative prose which speaks to the thematic nature of the project. Subjects become collaborators in the creation of work that, she believes, speaks to a deeply desirable connectivity to one another and the creative process. With inspiration from the book SOCIAL, Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, by neuroscientist, Matthew Lieberman, Leslie draws on the science that we have survived as a species by working together and surmises that, in times of conflict, that neurology is of tantamount importance.

For this piece, Leslie has chosen a lyric from Public Enemy’s Bring the Noise as the end point of the poem and will be collecting lines and portraits from participants from 1:00pm – 6:00pm.  The final work will be distributed via email to all participants upon completion.

Leslie has made pieces of Social Poetry at Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation, during the 2014 HUMANA Festival of New American Plays, with the 2013-14 third grade class at Brooklyn New School and during the 2013 Dumbo Arts Festival. 

Completed Social Poem:

There’s music in my heart as I cry out for my people 
Pa Lante! (onward) 
Pa Lante! (onward) 
Siempre! (always) 
Pa Lante! (onward) 
in the struggle 
faster, faster, faster 
every minute matters 
Constant Elation 
masks the nation 
The Revolution is only a fetus – 
it is the black shadow of the People against the 
brilliance of Power 
Speak Truth to Power 
(a little bit louder now) 
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER 
Speak 
Honesty 
Now Pause 
All I have left is belief. Live in the freedom you wish to see 
Move with the rhythm you wish to be 
Be the change you want to see in the world 
I still believe in miracles despite what I see and experience around me 
It may take a little while but it will come 
SPEAK HONESTY 
But what’s our miracle? 
we are running out of time 
What’s our miracle? 
No map brave enough to consume this territory and try as we might to have our voices heard what’s our miracle? 
(a little bit louder now) 
What’s OUR miracle? 
(a little bit louder now) 
WHAT’S OUR MIRACLE? 
NOW PAUSE 
We can change the world. After all, there is no ONE world, but 8 billion consciousnesses that constitute the world as we “know” it to be 
Listen to the oracle 
make the historical 
HEALED and WHOLE 
use your reaction 
there’s passion in your action 
Be different 
share your differences to become one strong community 
Love each other 
LOVE EACH OTHER 
passionately 
and with everything you have 
Power of the 
People, say 
MAKE a Miracle 
Pump the Lyrical