At the Mariners Inn men’s homeless shelter, located in Midtown Detroit, the residents are finding their inner voice, while stepping outside their comfort zone.
“I never wrote a poem in my life, it was kind of scary, because everybody knows what you’re feeling and what you’re thinking,” Marco Polo, a resident at Mariners Inn told “Live in the D’s” April Morton.
Polo, like many of the residents there, is struggling with life’s battles. Along with receiving help for substance abuse, homelessness, and other challenges, the men are participating in another form of therapy, the spoken word, with the help of the “Poetry Man.”
“I’m just proud of this program because I’ve met people that blow me out the water as far as their poetry, like blow my mind. These are men with real life experience, went through a lot of hard times, a lot of different things, but they’re still brilliant men that deserve a spotlight,” said Joel “Fluent” Greene, a Detroit Poet, Author, and Event Producer.
Greene has affectionately been given the name “Poetry Man,” by the residents. He’s performed on several stages for the past two decades in Detroit and beyond, but says by far, the last 7 years of teaching poetry at Mariners, out shines all of those bright lights. “What it means to them, showed me my value in this community. In a room with other guys, with similar things going on in their lives, and we’re just writing about things and sharing.”
Soon that writing will be shared with the world. Greene is working on a follow-up book to a first titled, “The Straights”. The published book features original poems from several men at Mariners Inn. Now a current group is taking the course and preparing for the next series, that will possibly be named “Above Water.” Proceeds from both books will go back to programs at Mariners Inn.
“I see myself being a better man, father, friend,” Polo said, after writing and presenting his poem to fellow residents.
To hear the inspiring poems the residents are working on, click the video above.