Copper Chimney Lounge Poetry Series: Natasha Elle Thomas

The Lansing Poetry Club’s February Copper Chimney Lounge Poetry Series event, beginning 4 p.m. Sunday (Feb. 16) at University United Methodist Church in East Lansing, will feature writer, artist, educator, lecturer, energy worker and herbalist Natasha Elle Thomas.

Thomas was the co-founder and former executive director of RAISE IT UP! Youth Arts & Awareness, a Flint-based nonprofit that sought to promote youth engagement and empowerment through performance, literary arts and activism. In that role, she also coached youth poets who competed at the annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival. Her writing has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Womanly Magazine, Spoken Black Girl Magazine, Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies, Sonya Renee Taylor’s “The Body Is Not an Apology” and more.

Thomas has shared the stage with Angela Davis, Danny Glover, Robert Redford, the Dave Matthews Band, the late bell hooks and many more notable artists. She worked with pianist and composer Adrienne Torf and Lansing collective Voices of the Revolution on a tribute show honoring Torf’s late collaborator and partner, poet June Jordan. She also collaborated with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the University of Michigan Musical Society to produce the 2019 Culture, Community & Resilience Day of Action.

Admission to Sunday’s show is free, though donations to support the series will be accepted. Thomas’ performance will be followed by an open mic, which attendees can register for at the door. For more information, visit facebook.com/LansingPoetryClub or email Lansing Poetry Club President Ruelaine Stokes at ruestokes@gmail.com.