Spoken Word poets--new poets, experienced poets, even those who love spoken word but don't consider themselves poets (yet!)--join Floet, Keairra, and Sher for an evening of writing and sharing our work. All levels of experience welcome. Light dinner provided. Free and open to the public.

A theme will be provided to spark some creative writing during the workshop, and then you have the option of sharing what you wrote with a VERY supportive and positive group.

Please arrive by 6:30 so that we can all start together.

About the Poets:

Keairra “Miss Jones” Jones

Miss Jones’s talents run from visual art to music to writing to spoken word performance. She does it all. She has been leading workshops at the Roethke House since 2024.

Charles “Floet” Townsel

Charles “Floet” Townsel—better known as FLOET—has been writing and performing spoken word poetry since 2007 as a member of a poetry group known as the YEP Organization, which first thrust him into the public eye. As a child, he wanted to be a “rapper” but chose the path of poet or spoken word artist because of his love of words, the effect they have, and their meanings. Floet has also appeared in many poetry slams around the country, such as Rustbelt Regional Poetry in Columbus Ohio and in Madison Wisconsin; The Apache Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia, and many others. He aspires to finish his publishing work as well as musical spoken word as well in the near future, so be on the lookout!

Sher Ratnabalasuriar

Sher is a broad connector of ideas, contexts, theories, methods, anecdotes, hypotheticals, and lines of flight, pulled into new forms. As an educator, facilitator, and writer, she connects to the unique experiences of people, helping them develop new ways of seeing themselves, their communities, their institutions, and their changing world, by tapping into a spirit of curiosity.