PEN America Works of Justice · PEN America Prison and Justice Writing

Mahogany L. Browne on Collectivism, Bearing Witness, and Unhanding the Ego

·42 min·4 clips

Mahogany L. Browne asks if we're willing to be uncomfortable for the communities we claim to believe in.

This episode features poet Mahogany L. Browne in conversation with PEN America's Kate Meisner about her artistic work focused on justice-involved Black women. Browne is the Lincoln Center Poet and a writer whose projects center community and collective witness. The discussion revolves around her choreo-poem "Quilted Steel," which premiered at Lincoln Center and is based on interviews with justice-impacted women. Browne reads an excerpt from her poetry collection "I Remember Death by Its Proximity to What I Love," which personalizes statistical data on survival and delinquency. She references the Fragile Families Study, a long-term research project following thousands of children born in U.S. cities, to frame a poetic narrative. The creation of "Quilted Steel" involved directly interviewing Black women who have been involved with the justice system to inform the artistic piece. Browne emphasizes the importance of showing up for community and distinguishes between feeling unsafe and being intentionally uncomfortable for growth. A central insight is Browne's clear separation of the concepts of safety and discomfort, arguing they are often mistakenly conflated. She posits that meaningful community engagement requires a willingness to embrace productive discomfort. The artistic process for "Quilted Steel" is presented as an act of collectivism, stitching individual stories into a shared testimony. The poetry excerpt powerfully challenges impersonal data by voicing a lived, defiant response to sociological predictions. The episode reveals how Browne uses art to transform academic studies and personal interviews into public, communal testimony. Her work suggests that bearing witness through poetry and performance can challenge dominant narratives about crime and survival. The conversation implies that artistic form itself, like a "choreo-poem," can be a method for advocacy and reshaping conversations on justice. The tone is reflective, conversational, and grounded in personal artistic practice. The style is educational, blending poetry, personal anecdote, and discussion of social advocacy through the arts. Listeners interested in the intersection of poetry, performance, and social justice advocacy would find this episode compelling. Those seeking policy debates or legal analysis of incarceration might find the focus on artistic process less directly applicable.

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