When I hosted a reading last year at a now-closed coffeehouse, the proprietor had this rule for poems with profanity: the language had to be at a PG-13 level (meaning more infrequent and not too graphic).
If you are hosting a poetry reading at a corporate bookstore such as Borders and Barnes and Noble, chances are the store managers will prefer that the rating of the poems of features and open-mikers be closer to G.
A host of a monthly corporate bookstore reading recently was admonished because a customer complained about alleged profanity. The host says the profanity didn't occur. And he received an e-mail that he passed along publicly; it appears below with names and other identifiers redacted:
Hi [poetry host]
You know we have a new Store Manager as well as a new District Manager. This morning at our managers' meeting, [store manager] told me that last poetry open mic [a month ago] he got a customer complaint about profanity. The new regime is very strict and want to be sure that any groups in the store are bringing in sales, not just taking up space and definitely NOT upsetting customers. He said that if he receives any more complaints we won't be able to continue to hold the Open Mic Poetry in the store. So PLEASE let everyone know that they are going to have to be extra careful if they want to continue to meet here............There shouldn't be any problem with [store employee], just please warn the poets who sign up to read, as if anyone is considering stretching the limits of [corporate bookstore's] tolerance, they could ruin it for everyone under these new strict rules.
Thanks
[bookstore employee]
A classic example of corporate bookstore censorship in action took place in Pasadena years ago. I wasn't at the particular reading, but the store killed a poetry series apparently because a local and beloved-by-the-community poet/activist read a portion of Allen Ginsberg's HOWL.
One would think that HOWL, a seminal work of beat poetry and the subject of a censorship trial, could qualify for some kind of exemption from the Corporate Tolerance Police. It didn't. Someone complained about wandering into an environment where he/she expected to be shielded from "bad" words--and the reading series was canceled (though it moved to locations in years afterwards where content wasn't nearly so restricted).
I guess it's naive of me to wonder why corporate bookstores can't at least compromise on language to allow a PG-13 level and put up signs that explain that mild adult content will be expressed during readings (to forewarn faint-of-heart cultural conservatives and cautious parents of this actuality during the hours the readings take place).
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