An evening of transformative poetry and music at the historic Phoenix Hotel. Brought to you by Decentered Arts. Liz Cahill, Rhea Joseph, and Gregory Chambers.

Dress Code: Meet me at sunset (Your finest golden hour threads, warm and breezy or dusky and deep, turn heads before the light sheds).

If we get a good swell of RSVPs we will have them open the kitchen, otherwise there is terrific food nearby.

"Doors" -6:30 - 7:00 - come hang and get situated with a themed cocktial/mocktial.

Show 7:30 - 8:45 - Featuring a rockstar lineup of poets and surprise guests.

8:45 - Mingle and listen to tunes

Lebanese poets Jessica Semaan and Halim Madi are proud to present "We Made It", a pulsating exploration of the immigrant experience in pursuit of the American Dream. Through seven vignettes, the two unpack the transformative journey of the immigrant body as it navigates new identities. The words “We Made It” hint at both survival and success. The show questions the elusive promise of 'home'. The poets provide a raw lens on the complexities of adaptation and belonging. More than a performance; this is an invitation to rechart the journeys we’ve been on, outside the stranglehold of both achievement and endurance.

Two days at the Marsh! November 6th and 20th!

A night of words, wits and Keys with friends Yvonne, John, Matt and Danielle!

THE RACKET READING SERIES : FUTURE SHOCK / Thursday, June 22nd, 7pm @ The Sycamore
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FEATURING: MATTHEW ZAPRUDER, JENNY QI, JULIAN MITHRA, ILANA KRAMER, GIOVANNA LOMANTO, HALIM MADI & KIANA SHALEY

Join us on Sunday Jan 29th for an intimate evening of poetry and tea. Fragility of a Home features three SWANA spoken word poets followed by an open mic, where we will together explore and feel into what home means to us. Bring a poem of yours or of a poet you love who considers the subject of home and belonging.

The word "Invasions" is a combination of the latin words "in" and "vadere" ie. "walk in". Identitary, Collective or Intimate, Invasions are events that muscle into our lives. They force a conversation we often hadn't asked for. This poetry show is an attempt to reverse-invade the things that try to subdue us.

🖤 Can’t wait to see you there!

The pursuit of inner peace has become a hallmark of personal growth journeys. Halim's "Invasions" reconceptualizes the ruptures that mark our lives not as trials on the path to tranquility but as invitations for conversation with self, world and others.

Halim's "As America Metabolizes Me" is a collection of cafe receipts in which his name got misspelled eg. Helen, Haleem or, even, Felipe! "Redeclarations" is a colorful reclaiming and remixing of the Declaration of Independence by those who never signed it. "Scam love" is a series of poetic replies to scam texts.

THE RACKET LIT CRAWL : THE FALL 10/24 - 7:45PM. San Francisco's annual literary storm returns via the wonders of Zoooooom. We've gathered some of the best and brightest to tackle our typically downer of a topic - THE FALL. With the world on the brink of collapse, what happens after THE FALL? The Readers: Preeti Vangani, Christine No, Halim Madi, Elizabeth Stix & Rohan DaCosta.

Every month, Something Ordinary asks our community to donate what they can to a different local business each month. This month, we’re hoping it will be Brown Girl Surf, an org that “works to build a more diverse, environmentally reverent, and joyful women’s surf culture by increasing access to surfing, cultivating community, amplifying the voices of women of color surfers, and taking care of the earth.”

Other exciting news this month is our crossover with The Racket, another Bay Area reading series. The founder, Noah, was a reader last month & we are stoked to collab with him again! *Yay for Bay Area lit shit* Our crossover basically means we are both asking readers we love & combining our general energies to create one epic reading. 

Poetry. California Interest. COLOSSUS:HOME is an anthology that gives voice to Bay Area writers as they respond to the housing crisis. Over 70 writers and artists contributed work to this collection. They wrote about the joy and pain that we experience in our personal homes, in our home towns and home countries. They wrote of the effort to maintain and create homes that nurture our truest selves. A portion of proceeds go to Moms4Housing.